화학공학소재연구정보센터
Macromolecules, Vol.41, No.7, 2677-2682, 2008
Block copolymer solutions under external electric field: Dynamic behavior monitored by light scattering
A home-built capacitor was constructed in order to study the influence of an external electric field in polymer solutions by means of light scattering measurements. Herein, solutions of a triblock copolymer made of styrene and 5-N,N-(diethylamino)isoprene (PAI(11) 1-b-PS228-b-PAI(11)) in pure THF, DMF, or cyclohexane were studied. In THF, only random coil structures (R-h similar to 3.6 nm) were identified, which were not affected by the applied electric field in the range studied (up to 225 kV m(-1)). In DMF, micelles having Rh around 25 nm have self-formed, and their diffusion constant has increased linearly with the square of the applied electric field. The observed effect was attributed to the generation of a dipole moment on the micelles. In cyclohexane, huge aggregates R-h around 100 nm and free chains were detected. In this case, the induced dipole moment has the same direction of the electric field, favoring electrostatic interactions between the structures, since it was observed that the clusters dimensions have increased as a function of applied electric field time. As a consequence of the attractive forces, clusters amount in solution has decreased, which is supposed to be related to a precipitation process.