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The self-assembly of copolymeric vesicles and micelles in micromixers isstudied by External Potential Dynamics (EPD) simulations -- a dynamic densityfunctional approach that explicitly accounts for the polymer architecture bothat the level of thermodynamics and dynamics. Specifically, we focus on theco-solvent method, where nanoparticle precipitation is triggered by mixing apoor co-solvent into a homogeneous copolymer solution in a micromixer.Experimentally, it has been reported that the flow rate in the micromixersinfluences the size of the resulting particles as well as their morphology: Atsmall flow rates, vesicles dominate; with increasing flow rate, more and moremicelles form, and the size of the particles decreases. Our simulation model isbased on the assumption that the flow rate mainly sets the rate of mixing ofsolvent and co-solvent. The simulations reproduce the experimental observationsat an almost quantitative level and provide insight into the underlyingphysical mechanisms: First, they confirm an earlier conjecture according towhich the size control takes place in the earliest stage of the particleself-assembly, during the spinodal decomposition of polymers and solvent.Second, they reveal a crossover between different morphological regimes as afunction of mixing rate. Hence they demonstrate that varying the mixing rate ina co-solvent setup is an effective way to control two key properties of drugdelivery systems, their mean size and their morphology.

Simulating Copolymeric Nanoparticle Assembly in the Co-solvent Method: How Mixing Rates Control Final Particle Sizes and Morphologies