Nanoscale pattering of inorganics can be facilitated by using complex fluids as templates. One such approach is to use block copolymeric nanodomains in solid films (< 50 nm) as the template for patterning ceramic clusters with desired shapes and orientations. For instance, we use a triblock copolymer of polystyrene (PS) -polybutadiene (PB) - polystyrene (PS) - Kraton Dl 102® (MW = 71,000 and PS/PB = 28%/78%) as a template material to pattern barium titanate for energy storage applications. The important features of our approach are that (i) the interdomains of PBs in the preformed solid thin films are chemically OH-functionalized in situ, and (ii) the barium titanate precursors are solely localized within and reacted to the interdomains of PBs in solid thin films by condensation.

Thin films were prepared by spin casting a 1% w/w Kraton D1102®/toluene solution on a coverglass. Thin films were transferred to gold TEM specimen grids by the water lift off method.