Facile preparation of polymeric dimers from amphiphilic patchy particles

A straightforward strategy for assembling polymeric dimers from amphiphilic nanoparticles is reported. Amphiphilic polymeric nanoparticles with a mixed-shell of PEO/P2VN blocks and a flexible core of PAA blocks are fabricated by a non-covalent crosslinking method. Uniform polymeric dimers are efficiently and simply obtained via hydrophobic interactions under optimized conditions in selective solvent. The steric hindrance generated by reorganization of hydrophilic polymer brushes during the interparticle association is critical for morphological selectivity in the assembly. General applicability offers the possibility to organize functional NPs into superstructures with well-defined geometry and association numbers.