Temperature-driven self-assembly of self-limiting uniform supraparticles from non-uniform unimolecular micelles

AGUSTIN S. PICCO; MARCELO R. CEOLIN; WOLFGANG KNOLL; BASIT YAMEEN; OMAR AZZARONI

JOURNAL OF COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2016 vol. 471 p. 71 - 75

0021-9797

In this work, the self-assembly of non-uniform unimolecular micelles constituted of a hyperbranched polyester core decorated with a corona of thermoresponsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm) chains has been studied. As revealed by dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), these unimicelles form uniform supraparticles through a thermally-induced self-limited process, as well as exhibit molecular features commonly observed in PNIPAm-based gels. We believe that these results provide new insights into the application of stimuli-responsive polymeric materials as versatile building blocks to build up soft supraparticles displaying well-defined dimensional characteristics.