Abstract
We investigate the solution self-assembly of a mixture of positively charged homopolymers and AB diblock copolymers,in which the A blocks are negatively charged,and the B blocks are neutral.The electrostatic complexation between oppositely charged polymers drives the for-mation of many ordered phases.The microstructures and phase diagrams are calculated using self-consistent field theory(SCFT)based on an ion-pair model with an equilibrium constant K to characterize the strength of binding between positively and negatively charged monomers.The ef-fects of the charge ratio,representing the ratio of charges from the homopolymer over all charges from polymers in the system,on the ordered structure are systematically studied,both for hydrophobic and hydrophilic A blocks.The charge ratio plays an important role in determining the phase boundaries in the phase diagram of salt concentration versus polymer concentration.We also provide information about the varying ten-dency of the domain spacing and core size of the spherical phase when the charge ratio is changed,and the results are in good agreement with experiments.These studies provide a deep understanding of the self-assembled microstructures of oppositely charged diblock copolymer-homopolymer systems.
基金项目
National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC)(22073002)
National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC)(51921002)
National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC)(22373008)