Isolated nanomagnetic clusters formed by diblock copolymer phase separation inside nanopores of aluminum oxide membrane

Nanoporous alumina membranes are well known for generating 1-D polymeric nanostructures by wetting them with various polymer melts. In this work, cylindrical diblock copolymers of polystyrene-b-poly(ferrocenylsilane) (PS-b-PFS) was introduced into the nanopores of aluminum oxide template by capillary force, producing nanorods. Upon removal of the template, the resulting nanorods were microtomed and examined by TEM. The pore diameter was varied to obtain hexagonal PFS domains in PS matrix. Iron in PFS domains was oxidized to iron oxide by degrading the backbone of PFS with UV which cross links PS domain and ozone which oxidizes iron into iron oxide (Fe₂O₃). Hence, hexagonal clusters of iron oxide in the matrix of the other block were formed which have potential application in the field of magnetic data storage devices.