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Effect of pH on the Micellar Morphology of Semicrystalline PCL‐ b ‐PEO Block Copolymers in Aqueous Solution
Author(s) -
He WeiNa,
Xu JunTing,
Du BinYang,
Fan ZhiQiang,
Sun FangLi
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
macromolecular chemistry and physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.57
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1521-3935
pISSN - 1022-1352
DOI - 10.1002/macp.201100615
Subject(s) - micelle , copolymer , crystallinity , aqueous solution , ethylene oxide , polymer chemistry , morphology (biology) , chemistry , alkali metal , chemical engineering , materials science , polymer , organic chemistry , crystallography , biology , engineering , genetics
The effect of pH on the micellar morphology of a semicrystalline poly( ϵ ‐caprolactone)‐ block ‐poly(ethylene oxide) block copolymer (PCL 66 ‐ b ‐PEO 44 ) in aqueous solution is investigated. Spherical micelles are formed in neutral and acidic solutions. However, addition of alkali to the neutral micellar solution triggers a sphere‐to‐cylinder transformation of the micellar morphology. The micelles are stable in both neutral and acidic solutions, but the size of the micelles becomes gradually larger in the alkali solution. This phenomenon is interpreted in terms of the effect of pH value on the reduced tethering density of the corona in the semicrystalline micelles.