DOI: 10.1140/epje/e2003-00002-5
Control of amphiphilic block copolymer morphologies using solution conditions
A. Choucair and A. EisenbergDepartment of Chemistry, McGill University, 801 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A-2K6 adi.eisenberg@mcgill.ca
(Received 30 April 2002 and Received in final form 3 September 2002 Published online: 21 January 2003)
Abstract
It is well known that the morphology of block copolymer aggregates depends
on polymer properties such as the molecular weight, the relative block length, and the
chemical nature of the repeat unit. Recently, we have shown that if aggregates are allowed
to self-assemble in solution, then in addition to the above factors, a high degree of control
over the aggregate architecture can be achieved by adjusting the solution conditions.
Factors such as the water content in the solvent mixture, the solvent nature and
composition, the presence of additives (ions, surfactants, and homopolymer) and the
polymer concentration were successfully employed to control the aggregate shape and
size. In this paper, we review a series of studies performed in our group to show how
solution properties can control the architecture of aggregates prepared from a given
copolymer. The control mechanism is explained in terms of the effect of each property on
the forces that govern the formation of any given morphology, namely the core-chain
stretching, corona-chain repulsion and interfacial tension.
81.16.Dn - Self-assembly.
83.80.Uv - Block copolymers.
83.80.Hj - Suspensions, dispersions, pastes, slurries, colloids .
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag 2003
