Regulation of Micellar Morphology of PCL‐<i>b</i>‐PEO Block Copolymers by Crystallization Temperature

Abstract

Abstract The effect of crystallization temperature on the micellar morphology of PCL‐ b ‐PEO block copolymers in water has been studied. It is found that the micellar morphology of PCL n PEO 44 and PCL n PEO 113 changes with crystallization temperature in different ways because of two competitive factors: perfection of the PCL crystals in the core and deformation of the soluble PEO block. For PCL n PEO 44 , perfection of the PCL crystals dominates the micellar morphology and lamellar micelles are formed at a higher crystallization temperature. For PCL n PEO 113 the micellar morphology is mainly determined by the tethering density and spherical micelles or cylindrical micelles with a larger length/diameter ratio are formed at a higher crystallization temperature because of the larger tethering density. magnified image