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Anionic Polymerization of an Amphiphilic Copolymer for Preparation of Block Copolymer Micelles Stabilized by π-π Stacking Interactions
Published on: October 10, 2016
Dewetting instability during the formation of polymersomes from block-copolymer-stabilized double emulsions
Ryan C Hayward1, Andrew S Utada, Nily Dan
1Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Abstract:
We investigate the formation of polymer vesicles, or polymersomes, of polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene oxide) diblock copolymers using double emulsion droplets of controlled architecture as templates. To engineer the structure of the polymersomes, it is important to consider the concentration of diblock copolymer in the middle phase of the double emulsion. We describe how the presence of excess polymer can induce a transition from complete wetting to partial wetting of the middle phase, resulting in polymer shells with inhomogeneous thicknesses.
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