Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry, Vol.48, No.20, 4465-4472, 2010
The Influence of Solution-State Conditions and Stirring Rate on the Assembly of Poly(acrylic acid)-Containing Amphiphilic Triblock Copolymers with Multi-Amines
In the effort towards making nanoscale objects and assemblies feasible for use as functional materials, it is imperative to obtain control over the fundamental architectures and essential to understand what experimental conditions cause the manifestation of specific morphologies. A number of factors are known to influence the shape during the self-assembly of amphiphilic block copolymers in solution, including solvent composition, polymer length, hydrophobicity versus hydrophilicity, as well as the addition of additives that can interact with segments of the block copolymers. This research, focused on developing an understanding of the micellar architectures accessed by the amphiphilic tri-block copolymer of acrylic acid, methyl acrylate, and styrene, PAA(85)-b-PMA(40)-b-PS35, as a function of the stirring rate, together with other factors, when undergoing coassembly with ethylenediamine or diethylenetriamine in water/tetrahydrofuran solutions. The work demonstrates that the rate at which the polymer solution was stirred impacts the shape of the solution-state assemblies formed by the triblock copolymer. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J PolymSci Part A: PolymChem 48: 4465-4472, 2010