| Affiliation: | 1. Materials Research Laboratory & Materials Department, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA;2. Department of Colloid Chemistry, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Research Campus Golm, 14424 Potsdam, Germany;3. Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Polymerforschung (IAP), Lehrstuhl für Polymermaterialien und Polymertechnologie, Universität Potsdam, Geiselbergstraße 69, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany;1. U.S. Army Research Laboratory, RDRL-WMM-G, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5069, USA;2. University of Massachusetts, Department of Polymer Science & Engineering, Amherst, MA 01003, USA;3. U.S. Army Research Laboratory, RDRL-WMP-B, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5069, USA;4. Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA;5. Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 500 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA;1. School of Material Science and Technology, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China;2. Shanghai IGUS Co., Ltd, Shanghai, 200031, China;3. Neue Materialien Bayreuth GmbH, Bayreuth, 95448, Germany;1. Dept. Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA;2. Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, 11973, USA;1. College of Polymer Science and Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China;2. Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education, Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China;3. Institute of Science and Technology, China Three Gorges Corporation, Beijing, 100038, China |
| Abstract: | The structural versatility of block copolymers on the nanometer scale make them highly promising candidates for many applications in soft matter nanotechnology, including optics, electronics, and acoustics. In order to harvest the full potential of nanostructured block copolymer materials and achieve widespread use outside of academia, adaptable strategies are required to control and manipulate their spatial orientation, periodicity, connectivity, and long-range order. Over the past two decades the use of an external electric field has been well established as a viable tool to control a wide variety of structural parameters of nanostructured block copolymers on both mesoscopic and nanoscopic length scales. Covering a wide range of experimental and theoretical work, this review aims to illustrate major scientific advances of the past years, focusing in particular on the underlying physics that governs the fundamental interactions between an external electric field and block copolymer mesophases and its impact on phase behaviour and orientational order in bulk, solution, and thin films. |
