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Characterisation of block copolymer self‐assemblies by thermal field‐flow fractionation
Author(s) -
Greyling Guilaume,
Pasch Harald
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
polymer international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.592
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1097-0126
pISSN - 0959-8103
DOI - 10.1002/pi.5350
Subject(s) - copolymer , molar mass , micelle , materials science , fractionation , field flow fractionation , polymer , nanotechnology , block (permutation group theory) , chemistry , chromatography , organic chemistry , mathematics , aqueous solution , composite material , geometry
The ability of block copolymers to self‐assemble into various nanostructures (such as micelles) has attracted significant attention over the years as these block copolymers provide a versatile platform that can readily be modified for a wide range of applications. As such, the solution behaviour of block copolymers has been at the forefront of the modern nanotechnology revolution. However, these novel block copolymer‐based self‐assemblies lack suitable characterisation techniques to determine size, molar mass and compositional distributions simultaneously. This mini‐review gives a short background on the current techniques used to determine important micelle properties as well as their limitations for characterising complex samples. Current column‐based fractionation techniques used for determining property distributions are addressed. As a result of the limitations of column‐based fractionations, a multidetector thermal field‐flow fractionation ( ThFFF ) approach is put forward as a powerful alternative for determining not only size and molar mass distributions, but also other micelle properties as a function of temperature. More importantly, ThFFF is highlighted as the only current characterisation platform capable of addressing the analytical challenges associated with compositional distributions of polymer self‐assemblies. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry