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Crystallization and morphology transition of P2VP-b-PEO block copolymer micelles composed of an amorphous core and a crystallizable corona

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Abstract

In this paper, the crystallization of poly(2-vinyl pyridine)-block-poly(ethylene oxide) (P2VP-b-PEO) block copolymer micelles with an amorphous P2VP core and crystallizable PEO corona upon cooling in n-amyl acetate/n-butanol (NAA/BOL) mixed solvent was investigated. The micellar solutions of the block copolymers were quenched from 65 to −33 °C first and then to the crystallization temperature −3 °C. Transmission electron microscopy was used to observe the morphological changes of the block copolymers. The influence of the solubility or chain mobility of the P2VP core on the formation of square crystals was investigated. Square crystals of uniform size and shape in large quantities could be obtained. The crystals are composed of PEO single-crystal layer sandwiched between two P2VP layers tethered on the top and bottom basal surfaces. The crystallization mechanism that spherical micelles transform into squared crystals is discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51173069, 51473068) and Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (ZR2010BM009).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Fluorine Chemistry and Chemical Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Jinan, No. 336 West Road of Nan Xinzhuang, Jinan, 250022, People’s Republic of China

    Tinghua Wang, Xue Li, Xinkang Gao & Lianlian Song

  2. College of Physics and Electronics, Shandong Normal University, 88 Wenhuadong Road, Jinan, 250014, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaokai Zhang

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  1. Tinghua Wang
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  2. Xiaokai Zhang
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  3. Xue Li
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Correspondence to Xue Li.

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Wang, T., Zhang, X., Li, X. et al. Crystallization and morphology transition of P2VP-b-PEO block copolymer micelles composed of an amorphous core and a crystallizable corona. Polym. Bull. 73, 773–789 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-015-1519-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-015-1519-9

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