Arrangement of metallic particles via solvent-treated block copolymer ps-b-p2vp

Abstract In this paper, the self-assembly behavior of polystyrene- block -poly(2-vinylpyridine) (PS- b -P2VP) films is investigated under solvent annealing treatment. By preparing PS- b -P2VP films with two different thicknesses, we reveal the role of thickness in regulating the phase separation morphology during solvent annealing. In addition, we investigated the effect of ethanol soaking time on the phase-separated structure and the enhancement of Raman scattering by the Au nanoparticles (Au NPs) arrays formed after chloroauric acid soaking. The results show that the difference in total surface energy between films of different thicknesses and the reconstruction of domain structure induced by ethanol soaking can significantly affect the self-assembled structure of PS- b -P2VP films. A large-area arranged Au NPs on the substrate were formed by iontophoresis into ethanol-treated Block Copolymer (BCP) films. A Rhodamine (R6G) solution with a concentration of 10 −5 mol/L was used for Raman analysis of the formed nanoparticles. The detected signal intensity shows an obvious enhancement, demonstrating the application potential of the obtained arranged nanoparticles in surface enhancement of Raman scattering (SERS).