title: Electrical switching between vesicles and micelles via redox-responsive self-assembly of amphiphilic rod-coils.
abstract: An aqueous vesicular system that is switchable by electric potential without addition of any chemical redox agents into the solution is demonstrated using redox-responsive self-assembly of an amphiphilic rod-coil molecule consisting of a tetraaniline and a poly(ethylene glycol) block. The vesicle membrane is split by an oxidizing voltage into smaller pucklike micelles that can reassemble to form vesicles upon exposure to a reducing voltage. The switching mechanism is explained by the packing behavior of the tetraaniline units constituting the membrane core, which depends on their oxidation states.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, 261 Cheomdan-gwagiro, Buk-gu, Gwangju 500-712, Korea.
authors.forename: Hoon
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sang-Mi
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Ji-Woong
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Park