화학공학소재연구정보센터
Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Vol.379, 48-55, 2012
Study of hierarchical microstructures self-assembled by pi-shaped ABC block copolymers in dilute solution using self-consistent field theory
Microstructures self-assembled by amphiphilic ABC pi-shaped block copolymers in dilute solution have been investigated by self-consistent field theory. The effects of architectural parameters and the interaction strength among the three blocks have been studied systematically. Our calculation results show that the distance of the two graft blocks has stronger effect than the length of graft blocks and the position of the first graft point on the phase behavior. The interaction strength among the three blocks is another important factor in controlling the resulting microstructures. Compound-core, multicompartment, and multicore micelles are observed in the case of pi-shaped ABC block copolymers with hydrophilic backbone block A and hydrophobic graft blocks B and C. Core-shell-corona, incomplete skin-layered and hamburger micelles are formed when graft block C is hydrophilic and blocks A and B are hydrophobic. The wormlike multicore micelles have drawn our attention. We find that the morphology of wormlike multicore micelle can be controlled by changing the distance of the two graft blocks of the pi-shaped block copolymers. In all of the wormlike multicore micelles, the streamline wormlike micelle is more stable than other wormlike micelles from the free energy analysis. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.