Phase Behavior of Charged Star Block Copolymers at Fluids Interface

Abstract

AbstractThe phase behavior of block copolymers (BCPs) at the water‐oil interface is influenced by the segmental interaction parameter ( ) and chain architecture. We synthesized a series of star block copolymers (s‐BCPs) having polystyrene (PS) as core and poly(2‐vinylpyridine) (P2VP) as corona. The interaction parameters of block‐block ( PS‐P2VP) and block‐solvent ( P2VP‐solvent) were varied by adjusting the pH of the aqueous solution. Lowering pH increased the fraction of quaternized‐P2VP (Q‐P2VP) with enhanced hydrophilicity. By transferring the equilibrated interfacial assemblies, morphologies ranging from bicontinuous films at pH of 7 and 3.1 to nanoporous and nanotubular structure at pH of 0.65 were observed. The nanoporous films formed hexagonally packed pores in s‐BCP matrix, while nanotubes comprised Q‐P2VP as corona and PS as core. Control over pore size, d‐spacing between pores, and nanotube diameters was achieved by varying polymer concentration, molecular weight, volume fraction and arm number of s‐BCPs. Large‐scale nanoporous films were obtained by freeze‐drying emulsions. Remarkably, the morphologies of linear BCPs were inverted, forming hexagonal‐packed rigid spherical micelles with Q‐P2VP as core and PS as corona in multilayer. This work provides insights of phase behaviors of BCP at fluids interface and offer a facile approach to prepare nanoporous film with well‐controlled pore structure.