Oil-in-Oil Emulsions Stabilized by Asymmetric Polymersomes Formed by AC + BC Block Polymer Co-Assembly

We demonstrate a facile route to asymmetric polymersomes by blending AC and BC block copolymers in oil-in-oil emulsions containing polystyrene (PS) and polybutadiene (PB) in chloroform (CHCl3). Polymersomes were prepared by mixing polystyrene-b-poly(ethylene oxide) (SO) and polybutadiene-b-poly(ethylene oxide) (BO) in the oil-in-oil emulsion, where the droplets and continuous phase are PS- and PB-rich, respectively. The polymersome structure was directly visualized using dye-labeled SO and BO with confocal fluorescence microscopy; SO and BO with a high O block fraction co-assemble to produce asymmetric polymersomes. As the O block is insoluble in both PS and PB, we infer that the detailed structure of the polymersomes is a bilayer in which the S and B blocks face the PS-inner and PB-outer phases, respectively, while the common O blocks form the core membrane. This structure is only observed for sufficiently long O blocks. It is remarkable that although all the polymers are soluble in CHCl3, such elaborate structures are created by straightforward co-assembly. These asymmetric polymersomes should provide robust bilayer membranes around emulsion droplets, leading to stable nanoscopic dispersions of two fluids.