Nanopatterned Carbon Films with Engineered Morphology by Direct Carbonization of UV-Stabilized Block Copolymer Films

Nanopatterned thin carbon films were prepared by direct and expeditious carbonization of the block copolymer polystyrene-block-poly(2-vinylpyridine) (PS-b-P2VP) without the necessity of slow heating to the process temperature and of addition of further carbon precursors. Carbonaceous films having an ordered “dots-on-film” surface topology were obtained from reverse micelle monolayers. The regular nanoporous morphology of PS-b-P2VP films obtained by subjecting reverse micelle monolayers to swelling-induced surface reconstruction could likewise be transferred to carbon films thus characterized by ordered nanopit arrays. Stabilization of PS-b-P2VP by UV irradiation and the concurrent carbonization of both blocks were key to the conservation of the film topography. The approach reported here may enable the realization of a broad range of nanoscaled architectures for carbonaceous materials using a block copolymer ideally suited as a template because of the pronounced repulsion between its blocks and its capability to form highly ordered microdomain structures.