English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

We consider the coupling between an external electric field and dissociatedions embedded in anisotropic polarizable media such as block copolymers. Weargue that the presence of such ions can induce strong morphological changesand even lead to a structural phase transition. We investigate, in particular,diblock copolymers in the body centered cubic (bcc) phase. In pure dielectricmaterials (no free charges), a dielectric breakdown is expected to occur forlarge enough electric fields, preempting any structural phase transition. Onthe other hand, dissociated ions can induce a phase transition for fields ofabout 10 V/$\mu$m or even lower. This transition is from an insulator state,where charges are preferentially localized inside bcc spherical domains, to aconducting state where charges can move along the long axis of orientedcylinders (forming a hexagonal phase). The cylinders diameter is small and isdetermined by the volume fraction of the minority copolymer component. Thestrength of this mechanism can be tuned by controlling the amount of free ionspresent as is observed by our experiments. These theoretical predictionssupport recent experimental findings on the bcc to hexagonal phase transitionin copolymer systems.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, Revtex4, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Structural Changes in Block Copolymers: Coupling of Electric Field and Mobile Ions