Nanomaterial with Variable d-Spacing Prepared from Self-Assembly of Cleavable Triblock Polystyrene-(S2)Poly(tert-butyl acrylate)-Polystyrene

Nanomaterial with variable d-spacing is prepared by hydrolysis of a bulk self-assembly with lamellar morphology. The bulk self-assembly is prepared from a disulfide-containing polystyrene-(S-2)poly(tert-butyl acrylate)-polystyrene (PS-(S-2)PtBA-PS) triblock copolymer, which is polymerized via two-step atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) with a disulfide-containing difunctional initiator. The results show that the PS-(S-2)PtBA-PS with 47.6% weight fraction of PS bulk self-assembles into ordered nanomaterial with lamellar morphology. As the morphology of the bulk material is fixed by glassy PS microdomains, the PtBA domains can be hydrolyzed to poly(acrylate acid) (PAA) domains in the bulk state of PS and then the d-spacing can be regulated like an accordion by changing the environment of the material. Also, the hydrolyzed self-assembly can be applied as a template to load nanoparticles in PAA microdomains to prepare layered inorganic/organic composites. The bulk material can be dispersed in methanol to form dispersed (multilayered) nanoplates by cleaving the disulfide bonds by tributylphosphine (Bu3P) reduction. Moreover, the ester bonds in the hydrolyzed bulk material can be cleaved by NaOH, and then water-dispersed (multilayered) nanoplates with pH responsivity are obtained.