Hybrid hierarchical nanostructure exist widely in nature, such as animal bones, shells, attachment pads of geckos and butterfly wings. In these hierarchical nanostructures, each component of different scale shows its own characteristics. The combination of different characteristics brings complexity and diversity to the macroscopic properties (such as toughness and optical properties) of composites. For example, butterfly wings tend to have special functions, including color and thermoregulation. This is because there are hierarchical nanostructures on butterfly wings. The black color of butterfly wings is also the result of this multistage structure absorbing large amounts of sunlight. Therefore, it is of great significance to design and fabricate hierarchically ordered nanostructures by imitating nature for the preparation of novel high-performance materials with integrated structure and function.

Fig.1. Comparison of light absorption performance of multistage structure formed by co-assembly of multiblock copolymer and nanoparticles with that of ordinary layered structure

        Recently, the team of Professor Jiaping Lin in East China University of Science and Technology have reported a hybrid ordered nanostructure with excellent optical properties. This multistage structure is an organic / inorganic hybrid structure formed by mixtures and self-assembly of A(BC)n multiblock copolymers with long block A and short block BC and nanoparticles. By regulating the interaction parameters between nanoparticles and block copolymers, hierarchically ordered nanostructures with multiple small-length-scale hybrid domains can be obtained. The light absorption intensity of the hierarchical hybrid lamellae is significantly higher than that of the general hybrid lamellae, as shown in Figure 1. In addition, regulating the molecular architec, such as increasing the number of short block BC, can increase the number of small-length-scale hybrid domains in self-assembled structures, and thus further improve the light absorption intensity of hybrid structures. Theoretical calculation shows that the enhancement in light confinement and scattering in the hybrid hierarchical nanostructures give rise to the enhancement and blueshift in optical absorption. The results can provide theoretical guidance for the preparation of composites with excellent optical properties. This work was completed by Zaojin Liu, a postgraduate student of East China University of Science and Technology, under the joint guidance of Postdoctor Zhanwen Xu and Professor Jiaping Lin. The results are published in Macromolecular Rapid Communication (DOI: 10.1002/marc. 202000131), and the first author is Zaojin Liu.

Original link：https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/marc.202000131