Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol.121, No.5, 2367-2375, 2004
Polyelectrolyte shells of copolymer micelles in aqueous solutions: A Monte Carlo study
Multimolecular micelles, formed by polystyrene-block-poly(methacrylic acid) in water, are studied by lattice Monte Carlo method. Electrostatic interactions are calculated in the mean-field approximation by solving the Poisson-Boltzmann equation. The model is parametrized according to available experimental data. The dependence of micellar size on pH and ionic strength is calculated and compared with experimental data. A special attention is devoted to the behavior in solutions with a low ionic strength. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.