Greenall, M. J. and Derry, M. J. (2024). Temperature dependence of micelle shape transitions in copolymer solutions: the role of inter-block incompatibility. Soft matter, 20 (17), pp. 3628-3634.
Abstract
The nature of the transition between worm-like and spherical micelles in block copolymer dispersions varies between systems. In some formulations, heating drives a transition from worms to spheres, while in other systems the same transition is induced by cooling. In addition, a sphere-worm interconversion can be accompanied either by an increase or a decrease in the core solvation, even if the direction of the temperature dependence is the same. Here, self-consistent field theory is used to provide a potential explanation of this range of behaviour. Specifically, we show that, within this model, the dependence of the transition on the incompatibility χBS of the solvophobic block B and the solvent S (the parameter most closely related to the temperature) is strongly influenced by the incompatibility χAB between B and the solvophilic block A. When χAB is small (χAB < 0.1), it is found that increasing χBS produces a transition from worm-like micelles to spheres (or, more generally, from less curved to more curved structures). When χAB is above 0.1, increasing χBS drives the system from spheres to worm-like micelles. Whether a transition is observed within a realistic range of χBS is also found to depend on the fraction of solvophilic material in the copolymer. The relevance of our calculations to experiments is discussed, and we suggest that the direction of the temperature dependence may be controlled not only by the solution behaviour of the solvophobic block (upper critical solution temperature-like versus lower critical solution temperature-like) but also by χAB.
Publication DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1039/d4sm00331d |
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Divisions: | College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > Aston Polymer Research Group College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > Aston Advanced Materials College of Engineering & Physical Sciences College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > School of Infrastructure and Sustainable Engineering > Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry |
Funding Information: | M. J. D. wishes to thank EPSRC for funding (grant number EP/Y005309/1). |
Additional Information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). |
Publication ISSN: | 1744-6848 |
Data Access Statement: | Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039 |
Last Modified: | 07 Oct 2024 07:57 |
Date Deposited: | 16 Apr 2024 09:56 |
Full Text Link: | |
Related URLs: |
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(Scopus URL) https://pubs.rs ... 4/sm/d4sm00331d (Publisher URL) |
PURE Output Type: | Article |
Published Date: | 2024-05-07 |
Published Online Date: | 2024-04-09 |
Accepted Date: | 2024-04-08 |
Authors: |
Greenall, M. J.
Derry, M. J. ( 0000-0001-5010-6725) |