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Prediction of solvent-induced morphological changes of polyelectrolyte diblock copolymer micelles.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Li, NK; Fuss, WH; Tang, L; Gu, R; Chilkoti, A; Zauscher, S; Yingling, YG
Published in: Soft matter
November 2015

Self-assembly processes of polyelectrolyte block copolymers are ubiquitous in industrial and biological processes; understanding their physical properties can also provide insights into the design of polyelectrolyte materials with novel and tailored properties. Here, we report systematic analysis on how the ionic strength of the solvent and the length of the polyelectrolyte block affect the self-assembly and morphology of the polyelectrolyte block copolymer materials by constructing a salt-dependent morphological phase diagram using an implicit solvent ionic strength (ISIS) method for dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations. This diagram permits the determination of the conditions for the morphological transition into a specific shape, namely vesicles or lamellar aggregates, wormlike/cylindrical micelles, and spherical micelles. The scaling behavior for the size of spherical micelles is predicted, in terms of radius of gyration (R(g,m)) and thickness of corona (Hcorona), as a function of solvent ionic strength (c(s)) and polyelectrolyte length (NA), which are R(g,m) ∼ c(s)(-0.06)N(A)(0.54) and Hcorona ∼ c(s)(-0.11)N(A)(0.75). The simulation results were corroborated through AFM and static light scattering measurements on the example of the self-assembly of monodisperse, single-stranded DNA block-copolynucleotides (polyT50-b-F-dUTP). Overall, we were able to predict the salt-responsive morphology of polyelectrolyte materials in aqueous solution and show that a spherical-cylindrical-lamellar change in morphology can be obtained through an increase in solvent ionic strength or a decrease of polyelectrolyte length.

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Published In

Soft matter

DOI

EISSN

1744-6848

ISSN

1744-683X

Publication Date

November 2015

Volume

11

Issue

42

Start / End Page

8236 / 8245

Related Subject Headings

  • Solvents
  • Polymers
  • Models, Chemical
  • Micelles
  • Electrolytes
  • DNA, Single-Stranded
  • Computer Simulation
  • Chemical Physics
  • 51 Physical sciences
  • 40 Engineering
 

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Li, N. K., Fuss, W. H., Tang, L., Gu, R., Chilkoti, A., Zauscher, S., & Yingling, Y. G. (2015). Prediction of solvent-induced morphological changes of polyelectrolyte diblock copolymer micelles. Soft Matter, 11(42), 8236–8245. https://doi.org/10.1039/c5sm01742d
Li, Nan K., William H. Fuss, Lei Tang, Renpeng Gu, Ashutosh Chilkoti, Stefan Zauscher, and Yaroslava G. Yingling. “Prediction of solvent-induced morphological changes of polyelectrolyte diblock copolymer micelles.Soft Matter 11, no. 42 (November 2015): 8236–45. https://doi.org/10.1039/c5sm01742d.
Li NK, Fuss WH, Tang L, Gu R, Chilkoti A, Zauscher S, et al. Prediction of solvent-induced morphological changes of polyelectrolyte diblock copolymer micelles. Soft matter. 2015 Nov;11(42):8236–45.
Li, Nan K., et al. “Prediction of solvent-induced morphological changes of polyelectrolyte diblock copolymer micelles.Soft Matter, vol. 11, no. 42, Nov. 2015, pp. 8236–45. Epmc, doi:10.1039/c5sm01742d.
Li NK, Fuss WH, Tang L, Gu R, Chilkoti A, Zauscher S, Yingling YG. Prediction of solvent-induced morphological changes of polyelectrolyte diblock copolymer micelles. Soft matter. 2015 Nov;11(42):8236–8245.
Journal cover image

Published In

Soft matter

DOI

EISSN

1744-6848

ISSN

1744-683X

Publication Date

November 2015

Volume

11

Issue

42

Start / End Page

8236 / 8245

Related Subject Headings

  • Solvents
  • Polymers
  • Models, Chemical
  • Micelles
  • Electrolytes
  • DNA, Single-Stranded
  • Computer Simulation
  • Chemical Physics
  • 51 Physical sciences
  • 40 Engineering