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Effect of Added Homopolymer on the Hexagonal Phase Formed by Cylindrical Block Copolymer Micelles in a Selective Solvent
Author(s) -
Abbas Sayeed,
Cowman Christina D.,
Lodge Timothy P.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
macromolecular rapid communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.348
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1521-3927
pISSN - 1022-1336
DOI - 10.1002/marc.200800599
Subject(s) - copolymer , gyroid , micelle , materials science , solvent , phase (matter) , polymer chemistry , phase transition , dissolution , curvature , brush , chemical engineering , hexagonal phase , polymer , thermodynamics , chemistry , composite material , organic chemistry , aqueous solution , physics , geometry , mathematics , engineering
Abstract The effect of addition of A homopolymer chains to HEX phases formed by cylindrical micelles obtained by dissolving an AB diblock copolymers in an A selective solvent was investigated. The following general trends were observed: (i) order–order transitions from HEX → Gyroid (G) → Lamellae (LAM); (ii) the inter‐cylinder spacing of the HEX phase increased; (iii) when the homopolymer molecular weight and concentration was high, macrophase separation of the system occurred. The A homopolymer chains do not mix significantly with the A domain of the diblock due to excluded volume interactions, causing the corona chain brush to contract. As a result, order–order transitions that reduce the interfacial curvature are observed.