Multicompartment micelles and vesicles from π-shaped ABC block copolymers: a dissipative particle dynamics study

Abstract

Dissipative particle dynamics simulations were performed on the morphology and structure of multicompartment micelles and vesicles formed from pi-shaped ABC block copolymers in water. By varying the chain architecture and the composition of copolymers, a rich variety of morphologies were observed, such as oblate vesicles, trumpet vesicles, layered ribbon-like micelles and Y-shaped micelles. The simulations show that the hydrophilic block length and the distance between the two grafts play important roles in the control of the morphology. Since pi-shaped ABC block copolymers can reduce to linear ABC and star ABC block copolymers, they are good model copolymers for studying the self-assembly of complex block copolymers into micelles or vesicles. Thus, the knowledge obtained in this work as well as the new morphologies identified provides useful information for future rational design and synthesis of novel multicompartment micelles and vesicles.