Improved Network Development in Bidisperse AB/ABA Block Copolymer Gels

Abstract

Blending a B-selective solvent and an ordered ABA triblock copolymer can, at sufficiently high solvent concentrations, produce a physical gel composed of a network of B midblocks stabilized by A-rich micelles. We demonstrate here that addition of short AB diblock copolymer molecules to such a gel at constant copolymer composition can enhance the solid-like character of the gel, as indicated by an increase in the magnitude of the dynamic elastic modulus. Similarly, addition of AB molecules to a nongelled ABA/solvent system can induce gelation. In light of recent theoretical predictions and related experimental evidence, these results are consistent with a scenario in which tail-induced volume exclusion (due to the presence of AB molecules) within the micellar coronas improves network development through an increase in the population of bridged B midblocks.