SAXS studies of the thermally-induced fusion of diblock copolymer spheres: formation of hybrid nanoparticles of intermediate size and shape.

ABSTRACT: Dilute dispersions of poly(lauryl methacrylate)-poly(benzyl methacrylate) (PLMA-PBzMA) diblock copolymer spheres (a.k.a. micelles) of differing mean particle diameter were mixed and thermally annealed at 150 °C to produce spherical nanoparticles of intermediate size. The two initial dispersions were prepared via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) dispersion polymerization of benzyl methacrylate in n-dodecane at 90 °C. Systematic variation of the mean degree of polymerization of the core-forming PBzMA block enabled control over the mean particle diameter: small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) analysis indicated that PLMA₃₉-PBzMA₉₇ and PLMA₃₉-PBzMA₂₉₄ formed well-defined, non-interacting spheres at 25 °C with core d

SUBMITTER: Cornel EJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8152590 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature