Nanoscale arrangement of diblock copolymer micelles with Au nanorods

We fabricated a single-layered film consisting of spherical micelles of diblock copolymers and one-dimensional Au nanorods that were surface modified with the same polymer as the corona block of the copolymers. When the diameters of micelles were larger than the lengths of the nanorods, spherical micelles arranged in a hexagonal configuration surrounded by nanorods with their long axes perpendicular to the radial direction of the micelles. This arrangement provided selective organization of the Au nanorods and Ag nanoparticles which were selectively synthesized within the cores of the copolymer micelles. Thus, position-selective arrangement of Au nanorods and Ag nanoparticles was demonstrated at the nanometer scale such that a homogenous distribution of two different nanomaterials over a large area without aggregation was achieved. (paper)