title: Internal Morphology-Controllable Self-Assembly in Poly(Ionic Liquid) Nanoparticles.
abstract: Precise control of the interior and outer shapes of polymer nanoparticles has found broad interest in nanosciences, for example, in fundamental studies of their physical properties, colloidal behavior, and corresponding applications. Realizing such control below the 50 nm scale (i.e., a size scale close to individual polymer chains) requires accurate manipulation of polymerization techniques and a judicious choice of the chemical structure in monomers and/or polymers. Here, we constructed a series of well-defined sub-50 nm homopolymer nanoparticles with controllable shape and highly ordered, complex internal structures with sub-5 nm domain spacings, starting from 1-vinyl-1,2,4-triazolium-type ionic liquids in a one-pot dispersion polymerization. With cryogenic electron microscopy and tomography, a morphological evolution of particle shape and interior at this extremely small size end, unusual for polymer colloids, was identified and investigated in detail.
authors: Max-Planck-Institute of Colloids and Interfaces , D-14476 Potsdam, Germany.
authors: Weiyi
authors: W
authors: Zhang
authors: Soft Matter and Functional Materials, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie , Hahn-Meitner-Platz 1, 14109 Berlin, Germany.
authors: Zdravko
authors: Z
authors: Kochovski
authors: Soft Matter and Functional Materials, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie , Hahn-Meitner-Platz 1, 14109 Berlin, Germany.
authors: Yan
authors: Y
authors: Lu
authors: Max-Planck-Institute of Colloids and Interfaces , D-14476 Potsdam, Germany.
authors: Bernhard V K J
authors: BV
authors: Schmidt
authors: Max-Planck-Institute of Colloids and Interfaces , D-14476 Potsdam, Germany.
authors: Markus
authors: M
authors: Antonietti
authors: Max-Planck-Institute of Colloids and Interfaces , D-14476 Potsdam, Germany.
authors: Jiayin
authors: J
authors: Yuan
keywords: cryo-electron microscopy; cryo-electron tomography; fine interior structure; poly(ionic liquid) nanoparticles; self-assembly; shape-controllable