Premium
Self‐Assembly of Amphiphilic Block Copolymers in Ternary Solvent Mixtures: Lyotropic Liquid Crystalline Phase Behavior and Structure
Author(s) -
Sarkar Biswajit,
Lakshmichand Jinendra,
Alexandridis Paschalis
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.201200438
Subject(s) - lyotropic , copolymer , amphiphile , lyotropic liquid crystal , solvent , polymer chemistry , chemical engineering , polymer , lamellar structure , chemistry , materials science , phase (matter) , organic chemistry , crystallography , liquid crystalline , engineering
Abstract The effects of the simultaneous addition of two organic solvents (glycerol and ethanol) on the lyotropic liquid crystalline (LLC) phase behavior and structure formed by PEO–PPO–PEO amphiphilic block copolymers in water are examined. Glycerol and ethanol have been selected because of their opposite effect: structure promoting and structure dissolving, respectively. Lattice parameters of Pluronic P105 (EO 37 PO 58 EO 37 ) and F127 (EO 100 PO 70 EO 100 ) LLC samples in the presence of any type and amount of E+G solvents decrease with increasing volume fraction of the PPO‐rich domains. Lattice parameters for the two block copolymers fall on the same line when normalized with the square root of polymer molecular weight, suggesting weak block segregation.