Self-assembly of rod-coil copolymer tethered disks on surfaces

We report results of large scale molecular dynamics simulations conducted for diblock copolymer tethered disks in two-dimensional systems. The particles with three and four attached chains are considered. The copolymers consist of the rigid blocks associated with the core and the outer, flexible blocks. We have carried out simulations for nanoparticles with attractive outer (PA) or inner (PB) parts of chains. We analyze the impact of the number of tethers and the length of flexible parts on the self-assembly. The simulations show that the shape of "the rigid skeletons" of the particles determines on the system morphology. The PA particles with short tethers form different ordered networks. The PB-particles form highly ordered crystalline-like structures. For longer flexible tethers the PA particles form disordered networks, while the particles PB assemble into small clusters of various shapes and internal structures.