Patchy worm-like micelles: solution structure studied by small-angle neutron scattering
Abstract
Triblock terpolymers exhibit a rich self-organization behavior including the formation of fascinating cylindrical core-shell structures with a phase separated corona. After crystallization-induced self-assembly of polystryrene-(block)-polyethylene-(block)-poly(methyl methacrylate) triblock terpolymers (abbreviated as SEMs = Styrene-Ethylene-Methacrylates) from solution, worm-like core-shell micelles with a patchy corona of polystryrene and poly(methyl methacrylate) were observed by transmission electron microscopy. However, the solution structure is still a matter of debate. Here, we present a method to distinguish in-situ between a Janus-type (two faced) and a patchy (multiple compartments) configuration of the corona. To discriminate between both models the scattering intensity must be determined mainly by one corona compartment. Contrast variation in small-angle neutron scattering enables us to focus on one compartment of the SEMs. The results validate the existence of the patchy structure also in solution.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1209.4528,
title = {Patchy worm-like micelles: solution structure studied by small-angle neutron scattering},
author = {S. Rosenfeldt and F. Luedel and C. Schulreich and T. Hellweg and A. Radulescu and J. Schmelz and H. Schmalz and L. Harnau},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1209.4528},
year = {2017}
}