When oppositely charged polyelectrolytes are mixed in aqueous solution, they can undergo macrophase separation resulting in a polyelectrolyte-rich phase known as a complex coacervate and a polyelectrolyte-poor phase, typically with very low polyelectrolyte concentrations. By modifying the polymer architecture such that the polymers are composed of two blocks—one charged block and one neutral, hydrophilic block—at low polymer concentrations the polymers assemble into micelles where the charged blocks form the core and the neutral, hydrophilic blocks form the corona. Such micelles are known as coacervate core micelles due to the mechanism for their formation. Using a model that captures the essential physics, the core size and corona size of these coacervate core micelles are explored as a function of the charged and neutral, hydrophilic block lengths. Results provide insight into how the shape of the micelles can be tuned for applications such as drug delivery.

Coacervate core micelles: Size and shape

254th National Meeting (2017)

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