Behavior of a styrene oxide-ethylene oxide diblock copolymer/surfactant system: a thermodynamic and spectroscopy study.
Co-micellization of the diblock copolymer oxyphenylethylene/oxyethylene (S(17)E(65)) with the anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was investigated in aqueous solution using light scattering, transmission electron microscopy, isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), and density measurements. Upon the addition of the surfactant, changes in the physicochemical properties of the micellized block copolymer take place due to interactions between the surfactant and the copolymer. Mixed micelles of copolymer and surfactant are formed and the size of the mixed aggregates changes in dependence of the amount of SDS. At a certain limiting concentration of SDS, only small rich-surfactant-copolymer aggregates and free surfactant micelles are observed in solution, as confirmed by the thermodynamic data obtained by ITC and transfer volumes. Thus, it seems that the presence of surfactant can be a tool to control the size and properties of block copolymer aggregates in solution.
Castro
Emilio
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Laboratorio de Física de Coloides y Polímeros, Grupo de Sistemas Complejos, Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Facultad de Física, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
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