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Self-assembly structures of rod-coil-rod ABA triblock copolymer and nanoparticle mixture within a slit are simulated by dissipative particle dynamics method. Results show that the structures are dependent on the rigidity of the rod block kθ, the interaction between the rod block and slit awA, the fraction of rod block fA, and the slit height H. With an increase in kθ, we observe a transition from parallel lamellae to hexagonal cylinders. While with the increase in awA, the parallel lamellae at small kθ and hexagonal cylinders at large kθ change to perpendicular lamellae at large awA close to aAs. At last, we present a phase diagram of structure with respect to fA and H at large kθ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-assembly of rod-coil-rod ABA triblock copolymers in a rod-selective solvent is investigated by using dissipative particle dynamics simulations. The morphologies of the self-assembled aggregates are dependent on the number of copolymers in the aggregate and the rod length of the copolymer. We observe vesicles at short rod block and bowl-like aggregates at slightly longer rod block. In the vesicle region near the phase boundary, metastable bowl-like aggregates can be observed and be transformed into vesicles by annealing process. A transition from the bowl-like structure to the vesicle is observed by increasing the solvophobicity of the mid-coil block. In this study, the difference between the self-assembly of fully flexible ABA triblock copolymer and that of rod-coil-rod triblock copolymer is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]