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