Issue 45, 2019

Solution self-assembly behavior of rod-alt-coil alternating copolymers via simulations

Abstract

Alternating copolymers (ACPs) have shown several attractive unique characteristics in solution self-assembly due to their special alternating structure. With the introduction of rod segments, much more complexity and multifunctionality can be achieved in the self-assembly of rod-alt-coil ACPs. Herein, we have performed a simulation study on the self-assembly of rod-alt-coil ACPs in dilute solution through dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations. A morphological phase diagram was constructed as a function of rod and coil length, in which diverse assemblies were found, such as bicontinuous micelles and perforated membranes. Furthermore, the alignment of rod segments in the assemblies has been disclosed in detail. And, we deeply investigated the effects of rod length, coil length and π–π interaction strength on the self-assembly morphologies and rod alignment. With the increase of rod length, a disorder–order transition was observed, and π–π interactions could facilitate the orderly alignment of rods. Besides, our simulation results showed good agreement with available experiments. Furthermore, the unique characteristics in the self-assembly of rod-alt-coil alternating copolymers were discussed; in particular we found that the alternating molecular structures of ACPs could promote the orderly alignment of rod segments. We believe that the current work can provide a solid theoretical foundation for further experimental studies.

Graphical abstract: Solution self-assembly behavior of rod-alt-coil alternating copolymers via simulations

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
12 Oct 2019
Accepted
21 Oct 2019
First published
22 Oct 2019

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2019,21, 25148-25157

Solution self-assembly behavior of rod-alt-coil alternating copolymers via simulations

S. Li, K. Li, Q. Xu, Y. Wang, C. Yu and Y. Zhou, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2019, 21, 25148 DOI: 10.1039/C9CP05577K

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