A bead-and-spring model has been used to simulate the behavior of thermoresponsive asymmetric diblock amphiphilic copolymers with aid of Monte Carlo simulations. The alteration of the thermodynamic conditions was mimicked by using a Lennard-Jones potential, which was related to the measured temperatures by comparison with experimental data for aqueous solutions of two sets of diblock copolymers...

A modular and hierarchical self-assembly strategy using block copolymer blends (AB/B’C) with tunable supramolecular interactions is reported. By combining supramolecular assembly of hydrogenbonding units with controlled phase separation of diblock copolymers, highly ordered square arrays or hexagonal arrays of cylindrical domains were obtained formixtures of poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(styrene-...

Inspired by the fact that certain natural proteins, e.g. casein phosphopeptide or amelogenin, are able to prevent tooth erosion (mineral loss) and to enhance tooth remineralization, a synthetic amphiphilic diblock copolymer, containing a hydrophilic methacryloyloxyethyl phosphate block (MOEP) and a hydrophobic methyl methacrylate block (MMA), was designed as a novel non-fluoride agent to preven...

Symmetric diblock copolymer/nanoparticle (NP) systems under planar elongational flow have been modeled and simulated using coarse-grained nonequilibrium molecular dynamics. The aim of our present study is to understand how the dispersion of NPs in a block copolymer system is influenced by elongational flow and how the presence of NPs changes the rheology and flow-induced morphology transition i...

Surface-grafted styrene-based homopolymer and diblock copolymer brushes bearing semifluorinated alkyl side groups were synthesized by nitroxide-mediated controlled radical polymerization on planar silicon oxide surfaces. The polymer brushes were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS), and time-dependent water contact angle mea...

A polypeptide hybrid double hydrophilic diblock copolymer (DHBC), poly( N-isopropylacrylamide)- b-poly( l-glutamic acid) (PNIPAM- b-PLGA), was synthesized via the ring-opening polymerization of gamma-benzyl- l-glutamate N-carboxyanhydride (BLG-NCA) using monoamino-terminated PNIPAM as the macroinitiator, followed by deprotection of benzyl groups under alkaline conditions. Containing a thermores...

The block copolymers are an exceptional kind of macromolecules constituted by two or more blocks of different homopolymer chains linked by covalent bonds. These polymeric materials have received much attention over past few years due in large part to their ability to selfassemble in the melted state or in a selective solvent inside a variety of ordered phases or welldefined structures of high r...

We investigate the mechanical properties of ultra-thin layers of polystyrene/poly (2-vinylpyridine) (PS/P2VP) block copolymers by means of a Surface Forces Apparatus adapted to operate as a rheometer at the molecular level. Two systems are studied: "brush/wall" and "brush/brush". A comparison of the normal force curves shows that when brushes are compressed against each other, they contract rat...

We have observed polymersomes of high genus with their vesicle wall organized on the micrometer scale either in a double bilayer connected by a lattice of passages or a tubular network with hexagonal symmetry. Experimentally found shape classes are identified within a theoretical phase diagram based on the bending energy of the polymer membrane. Pronounced morphological changes could be induced...

2014 At equilibrium thin films of symmetric diblock copolymers exhibit a morphology where the lamellar microdomains are oriented parallel to the external surfaces. Interference microscopy has been used to investigate this orientation which results in a quantization of the film thickness. Solution cast films of the symmetric polystyrene/polymethylmethacrylate P(S-b-MMA) diblock copolymers exhibi...