Phase behavior of rigid, amphiphilic star polymers

Christian Koch, Athanassios Z. Panagiotopoulos, Federica Lo Verso, Christos N. Likos

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

We determine the phase behavior of rigid, amphiphilic diblock copolymer stars in solution, by employing a lattice model and applying Grand Canonical Monte Carlo simulations as well as histogram reweighting techniques. Previous studies on these systems [C. Koch et al., Mol. Phys., 2011, 109, 3049] have found that for fully flexible chains with a moderate functionality ranging from f = 3 to f = 10 and with a solvophilic A-block smaller than or equal to the solvophobic B-block, the solution undergoes a liquid-gas macrophase separation with a well-defined critical point. We find that the introduction of chain rigidity alters the critical parameters: the higher the stiffness, the higher the critical temperature Tc and the lower the critical density c. Furthermore, we find that for high rigidities and densities beyond c, the molecules arrange in cubic, columnar and lamellar ordered phases whose domain of stability depends on molecular architecture and block incompatibility. For even higher densities the system remelts again into another fluid phase. The resulting rich phase diagrams of star polymers that feature amphiphilicity and high rigidity are a manifestation of the character of these hybrid molecules as polymer-based, soft patchy colloids.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)7424-7436
Number of pages13
JournalSoft matter
Volume9
Issue number31
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 21 2013

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Chemistry(all)
  • Condensed Matter Physics

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Phase behavior of rigid, amphiphilic star polymers'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this