title: Rapid Self-Assembly of Block Copolymers for Flower-Like Particles with High Throughput.
abstract: The self-assembly of block copolymers has evolved into a foremost bottom-up approach for building polymeric materials. Historical challenges exist within this lively field, including the scalability and elegant simplicity of self-assembled aggregates with predictable structures. Here, we report a generally applicable strategy for the rapid self-assembly of poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(l-lactic acid) with the help of a single oil-in-water emulsion. A kind of flower-like polymer particle with filamentous surface branches is rapidly formed after removing the oil phase from the emulsion system. Moreover, the dimension of the branched filaments and the spherical internal core can be controlled through regulating the block ratio and the emulsification conditions. In particular, we propose an explosion theory as a balance between phase separation and interchain interaction for explaining the formation of the branched structures of the flower-like particles. The particles with high throughput are further functionalized with polypyrrole for their use in enhanced photoelectric-sensing applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Renmin University of China , Beijing 100872, China.
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Renmin University of China , Beijing 100872, China.
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Renmin University of China , Beijing 100872, China.
authors.forename: Xinyue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Renmin University of China , Beijing 100872, China.
authors.forename: Dingguan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Science , Changchun 130022, China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Science , Changchun 130022, China.
authors.forename: Zhigang
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-2974-1825
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Renmin University of China , Beijing 100872, China.
authors.forename: Yapei
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5420-0364
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang