Mechanism for rapid self-assembly of block copolymer nanoparticles |
| |
Authors: | Johnson Brian K Prud'homme Robert K |
| |
Affiliation: | Princeton University, Department of Chemical Engineering, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA. |
| |
Abstract: | Amphiphilic block copolymers in solution spontaneously self-assemble when the solvent quality for one block is selectively decreased. We demonstrate that, for supersaturation ratio changes [d(S)/dt] over 10(5) per second from equilibrium, nanoparticles are obtained with a formation mechanism and size dependent on the jumping rate and magnitude. The threshold rate for homogeneous precipitation is determined by the induction time of a particle, equivalent to the diffusion limited fusion of copolymer chains to form a corona of overlapping soluble brushes. Via determination of the induction time with a novel confined impinging jets mixer and use of a scaling relation, the interfacial free energy of a block copolymer nanoparticle was measured for the first time. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 PubMed 等数据库收录! |
|