Temperature Dependent SANS Studies of Thermoresponsive Diblock Copolymer Nanoparticles

We have recently developed a new class of thermoresponsive amphiphilic diblock copolymers that can switch reversibly between four copolymer morphologies in aqueous solution. Which enables the viscoelastic properties of the material to be controlled within a narrow temperature range that is relevant for potential biomedical applications. We now wish to conduct a series of temperature dependent SANS studies to quantitatively characterise the evolution in copolymer morphology from spheres to worms to vesicles to lamellae that occurs between 1°C and 50°C as a function of the relative degree of hydration of the hydrophobic structure-directing block.

本研究团队近期开发了一类新型热响应性两亲性二嵌段共聚物（thermoresponsive amphiphilic diblock copolymers），该类共聚物可在水溶液中于四种共聚物形貌之间实现可逆转变。该特性可使材料的粘弹性（viscoelastic properties）在与潜在生物医学应用相关的窄温度区间内得到精准调控。目前，本研究拟开展一系列温度依赖性小角中子散射（Small Angle Neutron Scattering, SANS）实验，以定量表征在1℃至50℃区间内，共聚物形貌随疏水结构导向嵌段相对水化度变化所经历的演化过程：从球形结构、蠕虫状结构到囊泡再至层状结构。