6533b7d6fe1ef96bd126681f
RESEARCH PRODUCT
How ill-defined constituents produce well-defined nanoparticles: effect of polymer dispersity on the uniformity of copolymeric micelles
Matthias BarzShuanhu QiSriteja ManthaFriederike Schmidsubject
chemistry.chemical_classificationMaterials sciencePhysics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)DispersitySelf assembleNanoparticleFOS: Physical sciencesNanotechnology02 engineering and technologyPolymerCondensed Matter - Soft Condensed Matter021001 nanoscience & nanotechnologyPolymeric nanoparticles01 natural sciencesMicellechemistry0103 physical sciencesCopolymerSoft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)General Materials ScienceWell-defined010306 general physics0210 nano-technologydescription
We investigate the effect of polymer length dispersity on the properties of self-assembled micelles in solution by self-consistent field calculations. Polydispersity stabilizes micelles by raising the free energy barriers of micelle formation and dissolution. Most importantly, it significantly reduces the size fluctuations of micelles: Block copolymers of moderate polydispersity form more uniform particles than their monodisperse counterparts. We attribute this to the fact that the packing of the solvophobic monomers in the core can be optimized if the constituent polymers have different length.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-02-12 |