title: Depletion interactions: a new control parameter for the self-assembly of diblock copolymer micelles.
abstract: Small angle neutron scattering was performed on disordered mixtures of nonadsorbing homopolymer (A) chains and diblock (A-B) copolymer micelles in an A selective solvent. Increasing the molecular weight or concentration of A led to an increase in the aggregation number, and a decrease in the effective hard-sphere diameter of the micelles. Furthermore an intermicellar attractive force developed, which was successfully modeled by the Asakura-Oosawa depletion potential. Via an alternative model we also extracted information about mesoscopic clusters of micelles formed due to this attractive force.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering & Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Minnesota 55455, USA.
authors.forename: Sayeed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abbas
authors.forename: Timothy P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Lodge
mesh_terms: D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D008823:Micelles; D009502:Neutrons; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D053838:Scattering, Small Angle; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D008823:Micelles; D011108:Polymers; D014867:Water