In-situ Liquid Phase TEM for Dynamic Micellar Assemblies of Amphiphilic Block Copolymer

Abstract

Depending on the molecular weights, compositions, the amphiphilic block copolymer can be self-assembled into various nanostructures in a selective solution. In the case of self-assembly behavior in the solution state, morphological reconstruction and dynamic deformation occur based on Brownian motion induced by diffusion and collision between particles. Therefore, dynamics in nanoscale were focused in order to directly observe the self-assembly behavior of block copolymers having well-defined and complicated structures. In this study, the self-assembly of a specific block copolymer was reported to have a crew-cut micelle behavior by in-situ liquid phase transmission electron microscope, and it was confirmed that the attraction of the intermolecular bond has strong binding energy than the theoretical value. This research can provide insight into the observation of amphiphilic block copolymer self-assembly mechanisms based on Brownian motion.