Highly dense arrays of ordered and aligned nanorods of polyaniline with 10 nm diameter on transparent ITO substrate have been successfully fabricated using supramolecular assemblies of block copolymer as scaffold material; the ordered arrays of polyaniline nanorods so fabricated were found to exhibit excellent electrochemical properties with an electrochemical capacitance value of 3407 F g⁻¹.

Surface force studies on polystyrene–poly(2-vinylpyridine) (1 : 1) mixed polymer brushes and corresponding monobrushes were carried out in dried state under a controlled environment. The aim was to explore possibilities to control adhesion and friction between inorganic or polymeric surfaces by use of polymer brushes. The effect of switching of chemical composition of binary brush surfaces (on treatment with suitable solvents) on wettability, surface roughness, and hence the adhesion and friction properties of the surfaces were determined. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) with silicon tips, silicon nitride tips, and colloidal probes with silica particles were employed to investigate the interactions between inorganic surfaces and polymer brushes. To study the interactions between different polymer brush surfaces colloidal probes were covered with polystyrene and poly(acrylic acid) brushes on the surface. For all the dry polymer brushes samples, surface roughness values were in the range of 0.35–1.0 nm only. Adhesion and friction forces of polymer brush samples were reduced in comparison to the silicon wafer and were correlated with each other (except for the silicon tip). Switching in adhesion and friction forces up to a factor of 4.5 was possible by switching of the conformation of mixed brushes on treatment with selective solvents. The friction force on a PS + P2VP gradient polymer brush layer varied laterally and increased with increase in the P2VP content. Friction depends on wettability, scan velocity of the AFM tip, grafting density, and composition gradient of polymer brushes. Moreover, for PS and P2VP monobrushes, friction forces were shown to increase with increasing grafting density. Polymer brush layers thus may be used to control the adhesion and friction behavior of solid surfaces in different ways.

Block copolymers show interesting phase behavior if at least one of the constituting blocks is crystallizable. The morphology development becomes highly complex when such a block copolymer is crystallized above the glass transition temperature of the amorphous block due to competition between microphase separation and crystallization during the structure evolution process. In this review, we focus on the morphology development in such crystalline‐amorphous (C‐A) diblock copolymers where the amorphous block remains rubbery during the crystallization process. Crystallization behavior in bulk as well as in thin films is considered. The issue of crystal orientation and chain folding upon crystallization in these diblock copolymers has been discussed. Moreover, the nucleation mechanism in these C‐A diblock copolymers and its effect on their crystallization kinetics is also described. Some of the emerging areas of research such as crystallization behavior in blend of C‐A diblock copolymers has been briefly discussed and finally the future challenges, which holds promise for our further in‐depth understanding of crystallization in block copolymers, has been identified.