Effects of molecular architectures and solvophobic additives on the aggregative properties of polymeric surfactants

The aggregative behavior of the polymeric surfactants with various molecular architectures in dilute solutions is studied by dissipative particle dynamics. The effects of the solvophobic/solvophilic length, polymeric architecture (linear, star, dendritic, and cyclic type), chain rigidity, and solvophobic additives on the critical micelle concentration (CMC) and the aggregative patterns are systematically investigated. It is found that molecular architectures have a noteworthy impact on the aggregative properties. For linear diblock copolymers, the CMC declines with increasing solvophobic length but rises with increasing solvophilic length. Nonetheless, the solvophobic group has comparatively greater influence on the CMC. Imposition of the star, dendritic, or cyclic structures onto the solvophobic or solvophilic parts of the polymeric surfactant leads to an increase in the CMC. On the contrary, polymers imposed with the greater degree of the rigidity on the solvophobic or solvophilic block have lower CMC. The addition of solvophobic additives results in a decrease of CMC as well. The effects of the concentration and length of the additives on the aggregative behaviors of polymer surfactants were investigated. Interesting supramolecular structures such as caterpillar and worm-like micelles were observed.