Abstract

Aqueous gels of telechelic poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-based triblock polymers, with homo and hetero combinations of 1,2-polybutadiene (PB) and poly(perfluoropropylene oxide) (PFPO) as hydrophobic end-blocks, were prepared by anionic polymerization and polymer−polymer coupling reactions. The block molecular weights in kg/mol were (2.7−24−2.7) for PB-b-PEO-b-PB, (2.3−23−2.3) for PFPO-b-PEO-b-PFPO, and (1.9−26−2.3) for PB-b-PEO-b-PFPO. Gels with polymer concentrations ranging from 10 to 50 wt % were investigated using cryogenic scanning electron microscopy (cryo-SEM) and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). The cryo-SEM micrographs revealed significant differences among the morphologies of the gels obtained, depending on the end-blocks used. Results from contrast matching SANS experiments were used to corroborate and refine the information obtained from microscopy. The PB-b-PEO-b-PB copolymers formed networks of spherical micelles at all concentrations as expected, albeit with significant spatial heterogen...

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