Related papers: Theory of copolymer micellization
We derive an expression for the free energy of the blends of block copolymers expressed as a functional of the density distribution of the monomer of each block. The expression is a generalization of the Flory-Huggins-de Gennes theory for…
We investigate the mechanism of chain exchange in diblock copolymer micelles using two distinct yet complementary simulation techniques. First, enhanced sampling method is combined with coarse-grained molecular dynamics to compute a…
Biological systems exploit self-assembly to create complex structures whose arrangements are finely controlled from molecular to mesoscopic level. Herein we report an example of using fully synthetic systems that mimic two levels of…
We present a self-consistent field theory (SCFT) study of spherical micelle formation in a blend of poly(styrene-butadiene) diblocks and homopolystyrene. The micelle core radii, corona thicknesses and critical micelle concentrations are…
We study AB$_n$ miktoarm star block copolymers in the strong segregation limit, focussing on the role that the AB interface plays in determining the phase behavior. We develop an extension of the kinked-path approach which allows us to…
Polymers consisting of more than one type of monomer, known as copolymers, are vital to both living and synthetic systems. Copolymerisation has been studied theoretically in a number of contexts, often by considering a Markov process in…
The self-consistent field theory (SCFT) is a powerful framework for the study of the phase behavior and structural properties of many-body systems. In particular, polymeric SCFT has been successfully applied to inhomogeneous polymeric…
We review various simple analytical theories for homopolymers within a unified framework. The common guideline of our approach is the Flory theory, and its various avatars, with the attempt of being reasonably self-contained. We expect this…
We present a generalized theory for studying phase separation in blends of polymers containing dipoles on their backbone. The theory is used to construct co-existence curves and to study the effects of dipolar interactions on interfacial…
The past few years have seen many advances in our understanding of the dynamics of polymeric fluids. These include improvements on the successful reptation theory; an emerging molecular theory of semiflexible chain dynamics; and an…
Partitioning of (bio)materials in polymeric mixtures is a key phenomenon both in cellular environments, as well as in industrial applications. In cells, several macromolecules are suspended within different biomolecular phases. On the other…
We present a new multiphase-field theory for describing pattern formation in multi-domain and/or multi-component systems. The construction of the free energy functional and the dynamic equations is based on criteria that ensure mathematical…
Spherical micelle modified by cononsolvency effect is investigated by using self-consistent field theory (SCFT) and random phase approximation, which is formed by diblock copolymers consisted of one permanent hydrophobic block and one…
A simple model of a polymer with long rigid segments which interact via excluded volume repulsions and short ranged attractions is proposed. The coil-globule transition of this model polymer is strongly first order, the globule is…
Polymeric micelles are used in a variety of applications, with the micelle's shape often playing an important role. Consequently, a scheme to design micelles of arbitrary shape is desirable. In this paper, we consider micelles formed from a…
A diffuse-interface model for microstructure with an arbitrary number of components and phases was developed from basic thermodynamic and kinetic principles and formalized within a variational framework. The model includes a composition…
A coarse-graining strategy for dilute and semi-dilute solutions of interacting polymers, and of colloid polymer mixtures is briefly described. Monomer degrees of freedom are traced out to derive an effective, state dependent pair potential…
Starting from a microscopic lattice model, we investigate clustering, micellization and micelle ordering in semi-dilute solutions of AB diblock copolymers in a selective solvent. To bridge the gap in length scales, from monomers to ordered…
The dynamics of microphase separation and the orientation of lamellae in diblock copolymers is investigated in terms of a mean-field model. The formation of lamellar structures and their stable states are explored and it is shown that…
A self consistent field theory for compressible polymer mixtures is developed by introducing elements of classical density functional theory into the framework of the Helfand theory. It is then applied to study free surfaces of binary (A,B)…