Emulsion solvent evaporation induced self-assembly of polyarylene ether nitrile block copolymers into functional metal coordination polymeric microspheres

Self-assembly of block copolymer is a well-known methodology to fabricate soft functional nanostructures. Herein, the block copolymers containing both rigid aromatic moieties and flexible ether groups in the backbone, named of co-polyarylene ether nitriles, have been synthesized and further transformed into metal coordination polymeric microspheres (MCPMS) via the Pb2+ mediated self-assembly occurring in confined emulsion droplet. Based on the systematic characterization of SEM, TEM, SAED, XRD and XPS, it is found that the size, morphology, aggregate structure as well as fluorescent properties of obtained MCPMS can be readily modulated by tuning of block copolymer backbone structures and self-assembly parameters. More interestingly, the obtained MCPMS can be further employed as robust templates for in-situ immobilization of silver nanoparticles. Therefore, the metal ions assisted self-assembly of aromatic block copolymer in emulsion droplets reported in this work basically open a new way for fabrication of functional hybrid nanomaterials. [Display omitted] •Rod-coil amphiphilic block copolymer named of amPEN has been synthesized.•AmPEN has been self-assembled into microspheres via emulsion solvent evaporation.•Crystallized metal coordination polymeric microspheres (MCPMS) are obtained.•MCPMS are fabricated by introducing Pb2+ into emulsion solvent evaporation of amPEN.•MCPMS can be used as robust templates for in-situ synthesis of silver nanoparticles.