Authors
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Dewald, I. ; Gensel, J. ; Betthausen, E. ; Borisov, O. ; Müller, A. H. E. ; Schacher, F. H. ; Fery, A.
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Title
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Splitting of surface-immobilized multicompartment micelles into clusters upon charge inversion
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Date
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01.05.2016
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Number
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49187
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Abstract
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We investigate a morphological transition of surface immobilized triblock terpolymer micelles, the splitting into well-defined clusters of satellite micelles upon pH-changes. The multicompartment micelles are formed in aqueous solution of ABC triblock terpolymers consisting of a hydrophobic polybutadiene block, a weak polyanionic poly(methacrylic acid) block and a weak polycationic poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) block. They are subsequently immobilized on silicon wafer surfaces by dip-coating. The splitting process is triggered by a pH change to strongly basic pH, which goes along with a charge reversal of the micelles. We find that the aggregation number of the sub-micelles is well-defined and that larger micelles have a tendency to split into a larger number of sub-micelles. Furthermore, there is a clear preference for clusters consisting of doublets and triplets of sub-micelles. The morphology of surface-immobilized clusters can be “quenched” by returning to the original pH. Thus, such well-defined micellar clusters can be stabilized and are available as colloidal building blocks for the formation of hierarchical surface structures. We discuss the underlying physico-chemical principles of the splitting process considering changes in charge and total free energy of the micelles upon pH change.
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Publisher
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ACS Nano
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Wikidata
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Citation
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ACS Nano 10 (2016) 5180–5188
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DOI
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https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.6b00670
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Tags
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