Abstract:
Aqueous micellar solutions of ionic/neutral block copolymers have been studied by light scattering, small angle neutron scattering and small angle X-ray scattering. We made use of a polymer comprised of a short hydrophobic block (polyethylene-propylene) PEP and of a long polyelectrolytic block (polystyrene-sulfonate) PSSNa which has been shown previously to micellize in water. The apparent polydispersity of these micelles is studied in detail, showing the existence of a few large aggregates coexisting with the population of micelles. Solutions of micelles are found to order above some threshold in polymer concentration. The order is liquid-like, as demonstrated by the evolution with concentration of the peak observed in the structure factor (), and the degree of order is found to be identical over a large range of concentrations (up to 20 wt%). Consistent values of the aggregation number of the micelles are found by independent methods. The effect of salt addition on the order is found to be weak.
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Received: 19 June 1997 / Received in final form: 4 September 1997 / Accepted: 9 October 1997
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Guenoun, P., Delsanti, M., Gazeau, D. et al. Structural properties of charged diblock copolymer solutions. Eur. Phys. J. B 1, 77–86 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510050154
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510050154