1. The Effects of Polydispersity on the Melt Phase and Aqueous Solution Phase Behavior of ABA-Triblock Copolymers
Mahesh K. Mahanthappa, Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison
ABA-triblock copolymers combine two chemically dissimilar homopolymer segments into a single macromolecule. Molecules of this type having narrow molecular weight distributions self-assemble into a variety of useful nanostructured materials, however, their monodispersity has long been considered a prerequisite for their predictable, controlled, and uniform self-assembly to form well-defined structures. We are systematically exploring the effects of molecular weight polydispersity on the self-assembly behavior of ABA-type triblock copolymers having polydisperse center B blocks. Our results show that these materials do self-assemble into ordered structures with variable degrees of long-range order. Additionally, we have found that polydispersity may frustrate long-range ordering to yield bicontinuous networks that are the subject of ongoing studies.
polydisperse
monodisperse
Mw/Mn = 2.0
Mw/Mn =