文献类型：期刊文献

英文题名：Growth and Termination of Cylindrical Micelles via Liquid-Crystallization-Driven Self-Assembly

作者：Gao, Liang[1];Gao, Hongbing[1];Lin, Jiaping[1];Wang, Liquan[1];Wang, Xiao-Song[3];Yang, Chunming[2];Lin, Shaoliang[1]

机构：[1]East China Univ Sci & Technol, Shanghai Key Lab Adv Polymer Mat, Key Lab Ultrafine Mat, Sch Mat Sci & Engn,Minist Educ, Shanghai 200237, Peoples R China;[2]Chinese Acad Sci, Shanghai Inst Appl Phys, Shanghai Synchrotron Radiat Facil, Shanghai 201204, Peoples R China;[3]Univ Waterloo, Waterloo Inst Nanotechnol, Dept Chem, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada

年份：2020

卷号：53

期号：20

起止页码：8992

外文期刊名：MACROMOLECULES

收录：;EI(收录号：20204409439690);WOS:【SCI-EXPANDED(收录号:WOS:000586789500027)】；

基金：This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51833003, 51621002, 21774032, and 21975073), the Project of Shanghai Municipality (16520721900), and Shanghai Sailing Program (20YF1410700).

语种：英文

外文关键词：Block copolymers - Micelles - Self assembly - Functional materials - Cholesteric liquid crystals

摘要：Growth and termination of cylindrical micelles with cholesteric liquid crystal (LC) cores (seeds) were achieved experimentally, following the simulation studies of liquid-crystallization-driven self-assembly (LCDSA) of block copolymers. The fluidity of LC cores was proven to be crucial for this success. To a seed solution, the added block copolymer unimers had a high tendency to form new aggregates. The formed aggregates had a less-ordered cholesteric LC structure as compared with those in the seed and subsequently fused with the seeds. After the fusion, the fluidity allowed a rearrangement of the rod blocks within the elongated segments to match the LC structure in the seeds. The fusion and rearrangement were repeated in cycles, which completely consumed the newly formed aggregates and led to a seeded-growth behavior. Under a condition that the interactions between LC blocks are stronger, the newly formed aggregates had smectic LC cores, which fused with the seeds terminating the growth. The termination is attributed to the higher energy barrier for the transition from the smectic LC structure to cholesteric active ends. This work created a theoretical basis for further exploration of living assembly using LC block copolymers, which are building blocks for a wide range of functional materials.