Reproducible Access to Tunable Morphologies via the Self-Assembly of an Amphiphilic Diblock Copolymer in Water

Abstract

We report on the preparation of positively charged crew-cut nanoaggregates in water with various nonspherical (i.e., worm, flower, and large compound) and spherical (i.e., vesicle and sphere) morphologies by the self-assembly of a single diblock copolymer in water. Our facile procedure for preparing positively charged nanoparticles, when combined with the techniques for obtaining negatively charged and neutral nanoaggregates already established by Eisenberg et al., provides a versatile toolbox for the reproducible production of uniformly nanostructured particles with control over both morphology and surface chemistry. Such nanoparticles offer opportunities for the fundamental study of nanobio interactions and may open the door to novel drug and gene delivery applications.