Direct observation of twisted grain boundary in a block copolymer lamellar nanostructure

The grain boundary morphology of a lamella-forming poly(styrene-b-isoprene) (SI) diblock copolymer was investigated by transmission electron microtomography. The twist grain boundary, at which two lamellar nanodomains orthogonally intersect, was successfully observed in three dimensions (3D). A two-dimensional periodic minimal surface, the Scherk's first surface, was once hypothesized as a model of such a grain boundary morphology but never experimentally ascertained. The area-averaged curvatures of the interface between the PI and PS nanodomains as well as the interfacial area per unit volume suggested that the grain boundary morphology had characteristics of the saddlelike hyperbolic surface and was found to be quite similar to Scherk's first surface.