The influences of cooperative swelling and coordination on patterned decoration of gold on block copolymer nanospheres

Ordered nanoring arrays are a new pattern of block copolymer thin films generated by spin-coating of block copolymer reverse micelles on silicon substrates, which can further direct the formation of gold nanoring arrays on block copolymer thin films. Here, it is reported that the cooperation of swelling and coordination can influence the surface pattern of the block copolymer nanospheres. A hexagonally arranged dot pattern can be transformed into a ring pattern on polystyrene-block-poly(2-vinylpyridine) nanospheres, and the new pattern can further direct the decoration of gold nanoparticles by balancing the swelling of the poly(2-vinylpyridine) chains and the coordination effect between gold ions and the pyridine units. This report demonstrates that the cooperation of swelling and coordination can influence the surface pattern of block copolymer nanospheres. A hexagonally arranged dot pattern can be transformed into a ring pattern on polystyrene-block-poly(2-vinylpyridine) nanospheres, and the new pattern can further direct the decoration of gold nanoparticles by balancing the swelling of the poly(2-vinylpyridine) chains and the coordination effect between gold ions and the pyridine units.