Block-Selective Solvent Influence on Morphology of the Micelles Self-Assembled by PS38-b-P(AA190-co-MA20)

The influence of block‐selective solvent on the self‐assembly of polystyrene‐block‐poly[(acrylic acid)‐co‐(methyl acrylate)] was studied. The nature of the block‐selective solvent, which is a binary solvent mixture with different composition, exerts remarkable influence on the morphology of the resulting micelles. When the block‐selective solvent is a binary solvent mixture of acetone and water with acetone content ranging from 0 to 90 vol.‐%, the resulting aggregates are core‐shell spheres with diameter about 60 nm, porous aggregates with diameter of 100, 180 and 250 nm, and core‐shell cauliflower‐like aggregates with size about 200 nm, respectively. The reason that the morphology of resulting micelles changes with acetone content has been discussed. The structure of the resulting micelles is further characterized in detail by DLS and SLS. Morphological tuning is also achieved by using a binary solvent mixture of ethanol and water or a binary solvent mixture of DMF and water as block‐selective solvent. In these cases, core‐shell spheres, hollow aggregates, and incompact aggregates are formed with the ethanol or DMF concentration ranging from 10 to 80 vol.‐%.