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Microphase Separatxon of Charged Diblock Copolymers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2011

J. F. Marko  and
Y. Rabin
J. F. Marko
Affiliation:
The James Franck Institute, The University of Chicago, 5640 Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637
Y. Rabin
Affiliation:
The James Franck Institute, The University of Chicago, 5640 Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637
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Abstract

The microphase segregation properties of diblock copolymers composed of a neutral polymer joined to a polyelectrolyte are described. For weakly charged diblocks under melt conditions, we have constructed a theory of weak concentration fluctuations and have used it to study the spinodal instabiity to microphase separation that is driven by incompatibility of the polyion and neutral blocks. As in polyelectrolyte melts, the charging has a strong compatibilizing effect because of the large counterion entropy cost of phase separation. The electrostatic interactions also introduce a new length scale, the Debye screening length, which competes with the free chain radius to determine the microphase wavelength. A scaling theory of the strongly-segregated phase indicates that the salt-free microphases cannot have sharp interfaces beyond a threshold number of charges per chain.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 248: Symposium O – Complex Fluids , 1991 , 383
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1992

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