Micelles of Polybutadiene-b-Poly(Ethylene Oxide) in a Binary Solvent System

Abstract

We studied the assembly behavior of a polybutadiene-b-poly(ethylene oxide) diblock copolymer in methanol, cyclohexane, and the corresponding partially miscible binary solvent system. Dynamic light scattering indicates that the copolymer forms coexisting spherical and cylindrical micelles in both of the pure solvents. In the binary solvent system, spherical micelles form in the methanol-rich phase for a wide range of temperatures. Conversely, micelles are present in the cyclohexane-rich phase only near the critical temperature. At the critical solvent composition, micelles form in the single phase region above the critical temperature. Size exclusion chromatography results for the binary solvent system show that the copolymer generally prefers the methanol-rich phase. The preference becomes more pronounced as temperature decreases.