Polymer Science and Technology

Self-assembly in polymeric systems

Self-assembly is the process by which the constituent parts of a system, whether they be molecules, polymers, colloids, or macroscopic particles, arrange themselves into ordered and/or functional structures or patterns as a result of particular, local interactions between the constituent parts, without the assistance of an outside force. A well-known direct problem of computational DSA simulations is the prediction of directed self-assembly (DSA) patterns from given chemoepitaxy or graphoepitaxy guiding patterns. Finding guiding graphoepitaxy or chemoepitaxy patterns that result in desired DSA patterns is the main focus of this chapter.