Compositional Polydispersity Effects on the Solution Self-Assembly of Triblock Copolymer Surfactants

摘要

Amphiphilic block copolymers comprised of hydrophobic and hydrophilic blocks self-assemble in aqueous solutions to form micellar aggregates that are analogous to melt-phase segregation of block copolymers. As with block copolymer melts, the degree of polymerization and overall polymer composition dictate the interfacial curvature of the micellar aggregates and thus the overall micellar morphology (e.g., spherical micelles, wormlike micelles, and vesicles). Typically only monodisperse surfactants are investigated; however, incorporating compositional polydispersity in these amphiphilic block copolymers would provide a distribution of chains with different preferred interfacial curvatures that could form new and unusual structures.