Spherical Micelles with Nonspherical Cores : Effect of Chain Packing on the Micellar Shape

• Self-assembly of amphiphilic polymers into micelles is an archetypical example of a "self-confined"system due to the formation of micellar cores with dimensions of a few nanometers. In this work, we investigate the chain packing and resulting shape of Cn-PEOx micelles with semicrystalline cores using small/wide-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS/WAXS), contrast-variation small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). Interestingly, the n-alkyl chains adopt a rotator-like conformation and pack into prolate ellipses (axial ratio ϵ ≈ 0.5) in the "crystalline"region and abruptly arrange into a more spheroidal shape (ϵ ≈ 0.7) above the melting point. We attribute the distorted spherical shape above the melting point to thermal fluctuations and intrinsic rigidity of the n-alkyl blocks. We also find evidence for a thin dehydrated PEO layer (≤1 nm) close to the micellar core. The results provide substantial insight into the interplay between crystallinity and molecular packing in confinement and the resulting overall micellar shape.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Kemi -- Polymerkemi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Chemical Sciences -- Polymer Chemistry (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

art (subject category)

ref (subject category)