Solvent-induced morphological transitions in methacrylate-based block-copolymer aggregates

JOURNAL OF COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE

卷:572

Article

Campos-Villalobos, Gerardo¹  Siperstein, Flor R.¹  Charles, Arvin¹  Patti, Alessandro¹ 

[1] Univ Manchester, Dept Chem Engn & Analyt Sci, Sackville St, Manchester M13 9PL, Lancs, England

关键词: Block-copolymers;    Self-assembly;    Molecular dynamics;    Coarse-graining;    Morphological transitions;    Binary solvents;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jcis.2020.03.067

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(butylmethacrylate) (PEO-b-PBMA) copolymers have recently been identified as excellent building blocks for the synthesis of hierarchical nanoporous materials. Nevertheless, while experiments have unveiled their potential to form bicontinuous phases and vesicles, a general picture of their phase and aggregation behavior is still missing. By performing Molecular Dynamics simulations, we here apply our recent coarse-grained model of PEO-b-PBMA to investigate its self-assembly in water and tetrahydrofuran (THF) and unveil the occurrence of a wide spectrum of mesophases. In particular, we find that the morphological phase diagram of this ternary system incorporates bicontinuous and lamellar phases at high copolymer concentrations, and finite-size aggregates, such as dispersed sheets or disk-like aggregates, spherical vesicles and rod-like vesicles, at low copolymer concentrations. The morphology of these mesophases can be controlled by tuning the THF/water relative content, which has a striking effect on the kinetics of self-assembly as well as on the resulting equilibrium structures. Our results disclose the fascinating potential of PEO-b-PBMA copolymers for the templated synthesis of nanostructured materials and offer a guideline to fine-tune their properties by accurately selecting the THF/water ratio. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free