Issue 18, 2017

CO2-Stimulated morphology transition of ABC miktoarm star terpolymer assemblies

Abstract

The integration of stimuli-responsive polymers with polymeric assemblies enables exquisite control over their nanostructures. Herein, we report the CO2-regulated self-assembly behaviors of a series of amphiphilic miktoarm star terpolymers star-[poly(ethylene glycol)-polystyrene-poly[2-(N,N-diethylamino)ethyl methacrylate]] (μ-PEG-PS-PDEA). These μ-PEG-PS-PDEA assemblies show enhanced CO2-responsibility with the increase in the molecular weight (Mn) of the PDEA segment. For μ-PEG-PS-PDEAx (x represents the Mn of the PDEA block, x = 9.3k, 12.2k, 25k), we observed an unusual sphere/vesicle-to-lamella transition upon CO2 stimulation. As the Mn of PDEA increases from 9.3k to 25k, the morphology of these lamellae evolves from nanophase segregated “E. coli-shaped” nanosheets to nanoribbons, then to nanodiscs. We studied the pH, zeta potential and the microscopy images of the assemblies before and after CO2 stimulation, and accordingly speculated the possible mechanisms for the morphology transformation and the nanophase segregation. Our results indicate that the combination of CO2 stimulation with miktoarm star polymers could potentially extend the horizon of macromolecular self-assembly.

Graphical abstract: CO2-Stimulated morphology transition of ABC miktoarm star terpolymer assemblies

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
07 Feb 2017
Accepted
03 Apr 2017
First published
04 Apr 2017

Polym. Chem., 2017,8, 2833-2840

CO2-Stimulated morphology transition of ABC miktoarm star terpolymer assemblies

M. Huo, H. Du, M. Zeng, L. Pan, T. Fang, X. Xie, Y. Wei and J. Yuan, Polym. Chem., 2017, 8, 2833 DOI: 10.1039/C7PY00214A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements