Self-assembly of mixtures of block copolymers of poly(styrene-b-acrylic acid) with random copolymers of poly(styrene-co-methacrylic acid).

The effects of the addition of random copolymers of poly(styrene-co-methacrylic acid) [P(S-co-MAA)] on the self-assembly of block copolymers of poly(styrene-b-acrylic acid) (PS-b-PAA) are described. The effects of variation of five factors, including the MAA content, the weight fraction and molar mass of the P(S-co-MAA), the initial concentration of the mixture, and the length of the PAA segment in the block copolymer, were investigated. With increasing MAA content, the localization of the random copolymer in the aggregate changed from the core to the interface, which led to a morphological transition from spheres to vesicles. Vesicles, mixtures of vesicles and large spheres, and large spheres alone were formed with increasing weight fraction of the random copolymer. When the molar mass of the random copolymer was high, both rods and vesicles were observed at low water contents; otherwise, only vesicles were observed. The vesicle size increased (from 100 to 140 nm) with increasing initial polymer concentration, whereas the vesicle membrane thickness remained constant. The size of the vesicles prepared from the mixtures increased with water content but decreased with the length of PAA in the diblock.