Seeded RAFT Polymerization‐Induced Self‐assembly: Recent Advances and Future Opportunities

Abstract

AbstractOver the past decade, polymerization‐induced self‐assembly (PISA) has fully proved its versatility for scale‐up production of block copolymer nanoparticles with tunable sizes and morphologies; yet, there are still some limitations. Recently, seeded PISA approaches combing PISA with heterogeneous seeded polymerizations have been greatly explored and are expected to overcome the limitations of traditional PISA. In this review, recent advances in seeded PISA that have expanded new horizons for PISA are highlighted including i) general considerations for seeded PISA (e.g., kinetics, the preparation of seeds, the selection of monomers), ii) morphological evolution induced by seeded PISA (e.g., from corona‐shell‐core nanoparticles to vesicles, vesicles‐to‐toroid, disassembly of vesicles into nanospheres), and iii) various well‐defined nanoparticles with hierarchical and sophisticated morphologies (e.g., multicompartment micelles, porous vesicles, framboidal vesicles, AXn‐type colloidal molecules). Finally, new insights into seeded PISA and future perspectives are proposed.