Bottlebrush Polymers: Synthesis, Rheology, and Self-Assembly

Abstract

Bottlebrush polymers are comb-like molecules with a high density of side chains grafted along a central backbone. Due to their unique conformational properties, bottlebrush polymers have become attractive candidates for developing new photonic bandgap materials, nanotubes and nanowires, or drug delivery vehicles, to name a few. This dissertation primarily investigates the rheological properties and self-assembly behavior of bottlebrush polymer molecules made using a variety of different polymerization routes. A considerable portion of the work is directed towards the linear rheology of model, polyolefin-based bottlebrush polymers with independently varied branch and backbone lengths. These studies demonstrate how the tight spacing between branch points effectively precludes backbone entanglement in the polymer melts, but it does not inhibit the formation of entanglements among the branched side chains. Furthermore, the relaxation profiles reveal transient scaling behavior in which the dynamics transition from Zimm-like to Rouse-like at increasing relaxation times. These results highlight the distinct conformational character of bottlebrushes at different length scales. The latter parts of this work report on the self-assembly behavior of bottlebrush diblock polymers composed of atactic polypropylene and polystyrene side chains. The diblock samples are analyzed using small-angle X-ray scattering and atomic force microscopy. Nearly all of the samples display strong segregation between the two blocks, owing to the large molar mass of typical bottlebrush polymers. Consequently, only one experimental sample displays an accessible order-disorder transition temperature. The strong segregation is also shown to affect the ability of large bottlebrush diblocks to readily achieve well-ordered nanostructures by self-assembly. Finally, results of the most symmetric (by volume fraction) diblock samples are compared with predictions of a newly developed self-consistent field theory model, yielding remarkable quantitative agreement. The theory is further utilized to conclusively establish the molecular origins of the domain scaling behavior in lamellar forming diblock bottlebrush polymers.