Tuning of the morphology of core-shell-corona micelles in water. I. Transition from sphere to cylinder

Lei, L.;Gohy, Jean-François;Willet, N.;Zhang, J.-X.;Jérôme, R.;et.al.
(2004) Macromolecules — Vol. 37, n° 3, p. 1089-1094 (2004)

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Authors
  • Lei, L.autre
    Author
  • Author
  • Willet, N.autre
    Author
  • Zhang, J.-X.autre
    Author
  • Jérôme, R.autre
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Abstract
Poly(styrene)-block-poly(2-vinylpyridine)-block-poly(ethylene oxide) (PS-b-P2VP-b-PEO) ABC triblock copolymers commonly form core-shell-corona (CSC) micelles in water. These micelles consist of a PS spherical core, a P2VP shell, and a PEO corona. However, when the micelles are formed in the presence of a solvent selective for the PS block (benzene), the micellar morphology exhibits a sphere-to-rod transition, as result of the increased volume fraction of the core-forming blocks. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) confirm that a PS rod-like core is surrounded by a P2VP shell and an external PEO corona. Nevertheless, the rod-like micelles coexist with spherical micelles that should be thermodynamically less stable, because of a higher stretching of the PS chains in the core. The P2VP chains are also in a stretched conformation, whatever the pH. The P2VP shell has been used as nanoreactor for the production of gold nanoparticles.
Affiliations
  • ULg (Université de Liège)CERM (Centre d'Etude et de Recherche sur les Macromolecules)

Citations

Lei, L., Gohy, J.-F., Willet, N., Zhang, J.-X., Varshney, S., & Jérôme, R. (2004). Tuning of the morphology of core-shell-corona micelles in water. I. Transition from sphere to cylinder. Macromolecules, 37(3), 1089-1094. https://doi.org/10.1021/ma034255j (Original work published 2004)