Electrospinning of 1D Fiber‐Like Block Copolymer Micelles with a Crystalline Core

Abstract

Electrospinning is a simple, low‐cost, and high throughput technique that allows for the processing of polymers into fibers. The process can be controlled to allow access for well‐defined continuous fibers that are of interest for a wide range of applications including as tissue scaffolds, as nanowires in optoelectronic devices, and in catalysis. Conventional electrospinning processes use polymer solutions with high molecular weights. Here, the electrospinning of 1D fiber‐like block copolymer micelles containing a crystalline core is reported. The successfully accessed core‐shell microfibers in which 1D micelles containing a crystalline poly(ferrocenyldimethylsilane) (PFS) core are immobilized on a polystyrene microfiber via coaxial electrospinning. Furthermore, efforts to extend this approach to the use of 1D micelles comprising of a crystalline, π‐conjugated poly(di‐n‐hexylfluorene) (PDHF) core are described. Electrospinning is also successfully used to prepare microfibers consisting solely of 1D micelles with a PFS crystalline core, the first examples where a template material is not required.

Self‐assembly of side‐chain liquid crystalline block copolymers to anisotropic polymeric nanoparticles

“…Rieger and co‐workers introduced a hydrogen‐bonded bis‐urea sticker as supramolecular moiety in macro reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) agents, allowing the steering of RAFT‐mediated PISA towards fibers with tunable diameter via altering M n of the hydrophobic block 23 . In order to break the limitation of low solid content in CDSA, 30 Manners and colleagues have recently created a novel approach which combined crystallization with PISA, the so‐called PI‐CDSA method, to achieve the ‘one‐pot’ synthesis of monodisperse cylindrical micelles with controllable length 111–113 …”

“…23 In order to break the limitation of low solid content in CDSA, 30 Manners and colleagues have recently created a novel approach which combined crystallization with PISA, the so-called PI-CDSA method, to achieve the 'one-pot' synthesis of monodisperse cylindrical micelles with controllable length. [111][112][113] In addition, compared with crystallization, liquid crystallization is easier to be introduced and construct a PISA system for morphological regulation. Lin and co-workers have simulated aggregates of rod-coil BCPs prepared by PISA and obtained various morphologies which underwent a transformation of spheres-cylinders-furcate cylinders-'bowl-like' micelles-vesicles.…”