Nanoscale Mixing of Soft Solids

Journal Article · Thu Mar 07 04:00:00 EST 2013 · J. Am. Chem. Soc.

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/ja110871b· OSTI ID:1049564

Choi, Soo-Hyung; Lee, Sangwoo; Soto, Haidy E; Lodge, Timothy P; Bates, Frank S ^[1]

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1. UMM

Assessing the state of mixing on the molecular scale in soft solids is challenging. Concentrated solutions of micelles formed by self-assembly of polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene-alt-propylene) (PS-PEP) diblock copolymers in squalane (C{sub 30}H{sub 62}) adopt a body-centered cubic (bcc) lattice, with glassy PS cores. Utilizing small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and isotopic labeling ({sup 1}H and {sup 2}H (D) polystyrene blocks) in a contrast-matching solvent (a mixture of squalane and perdeuterated squalane), we demonstrate quantitatively the remarkable fact that a commercial mixer can create completely random mixtures of micelles with either normal, PS(H), or deuterium-labeled, PS(D), cores on a well-defined bcc lattice. The resulting SANS intensity is quantitatively modeled by the form factor of a single spherical core. These results demonstrate both the possibility of achieving complete nanoscale mixing in a soft solid and the use of SANS to quantify the randomness.

• Research Organization: Advanced Photon Source (APS), Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: NSFOTHERNISTDOE - OTHER
• OSTI ID: 1049564
• Journal Information: J. Am. Chem. Soc., Journal Name: J. Am. Chem. Soc. Journal Issue: (6) ; 02, 2011 Vol. 133; ISSN JACSAT; ISSN 0002-7863
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: ENGLISH

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
BCC LATTICES
COPOLYMERS
FORM FACTORS
MIXERS
MIXTURES
NEUTRONS
POLYSTYRENE
RANDOMNESS
SCATTERING
SOLVENTS
SQUALANE