Apparent specific densities of aqueous solutions of the diblock copolymers C18(EO)100, C18(EO)20, and (EO)92(BO)18 and the triblock copolymers (EO)25(PO)40(EO)25 and (EO)21(PO)47(EO)21 in the micellar state have been measured over a temperature range from 10 to 90 degrees C at concentrations between 1% and 5%, using an oscillating tube densitometer. From these measurements, apparent specific volumes of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), poly(propylene oxide) (PPO), poly(butylene oxide) (PBO), and octadecane in the micellar state have been determined. The composition of the block copolymers was checked by NMR spectroscopy. Results were compared with published data for the polymers and bulk values for octadecane, respectively. The apparent specific density of PEO chains in the dissolved state was also measured for PEG4600 solutions at different concentrations and compared with results in the micellar state. The results presented in the paper are crucial in connection with analysis and modeling of small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) data from polymer and block copolymer micellar systems. PEO and PPO have a relatively low apparent partial specific volume in water at low temperatures. It is associated with water molecules making strong hydrogen bonds with the oxygen atoms on the polymer backbone. These water molecules gradually become disordered when the temperature is increased and the polymer apparent specific volume increases. For PBO in the micellar cores of PBO-PEO block copolymer micelles and in PNiPAM microgels, pronounced temperature dependence with the same origin is also found. The application of the derived results for the apparent specific volume of PEO for deriving contrast factors is demonstrated and the results are used in the analysis of SAXS data for semidilute solutions of PEG4600 in a broad temperature range.

Spherical micelles of the diblock copolymer/surfactant Brij 700 (C(18)EO(100)) in water (D(2)O) solution have been investigated by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). SAXS and SANS experiments are combined to obtain complementary information from the two different contrast conditions of the two techniques. Solutions in a concentration range from 0.25 to 10 wt % and at temperatures from 10 to 80 degrees C have been investigated. The data have been analyzed on absolute scale using a model based on Monte Carlo simulations, where the micelles have a spherical homogeneous core with a graded interface surrounded by a corona of self-avoiding, semiflexible interacting chains. SANS and SAXS data were fitted simultaneously, which allows one to obtain extensive quantitative information on the structure and profile of the core and corona, the chain interactions, and the concentration effects. The model describes the scattering data very well, when part of the EO chains are taken as a "background"contribution belonging to the solvent. The effect of this becomes non-negligible at polymer concentrations as low as 2 wt %, where overlap of the micellar coronas sets in. The results from the analysis on the micellar structure, interchain interactions, and structure factor effects are all consistent with a decrease in solvent quality of water for the PEO block as the theta temperature of PEO is approached.

We demonstrate that aqueous solutions of giant polymer-like nonionic micelles “doped” with small amounts of ionic surfactants serve as ideal model systems for “equilibrium polyelectrolytes”. We report systematic light and neutron scattering investigations of the effect of ionic strength, doping level, and total concentration on the static properties of dilute and semidilute micellar solutions. In dilute solutions, we observe a dramatic influence of (intramicellar) electrostatic interactions on the micellar flexibility, and the results are in close agreement with Monte Carlo simulations. We also analyze the effect of electrostatic contributions to intermicellar interactions and micellar growth. In the semidilute regime, strong long-range interactions between micelles occur at low ionic strength and induce liquidlike ordering, and the resulting structure factor peak exhibits the same concentration dependence as previously observed for polyelectrolytes.

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We present a systematic Monte Carlo study of the scattering function S(q) of semiflexible polyelectrolytes at infinite dilution, in solutions with different concentrations of added salt. In the spirit of a theoretical description of polyelectrolytes in terms of the equivalent parameters, namely, persistence length and excluded volume interactions, we used a modified wormlike chain model, in which the monomers are represented by charged hard spheres placed at distance a. The electrostatic interactions are approximated by a Debye-Huckel potential. We show that the scattering function is quantitatively described by that of uncharged wormlike chains with excluded volume effects provided that an electrostatic contribution is added to the persistence length. In addition we have studied the expansion of the radius of gyration and of the end-to-end distance. The results are in agreement with the picture outlined in the Odijk-Skolnick-Fixman theory, in which the behavior of charged polymers is described only in terms of increasing local rigidity and excluded volume effects. Moreover, the Monte Carlo data are found to be in very good agreement with experimental scattering measurements with equilibrium polyelectrolytes, i.e., giant wormlike micelles formed in mixtures of nonionic and ionic surfactants in dilute aqueous solution, with added salt.

Semidilute solutions of two series of polyacrylamide (AM)-based copolymers containing hydrophobic di-n-propylacrylamide (DPAM) and di-n-octylacrylamide (DOAM) comonomers, namely P(DPAM-co-AM) and P(DOAM-co-AM), have been characterized using rheology and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The relaxation time and plateau modulus obtained from rheology, and the correlation length ( ) obtained from SAXS are compared for copolymers with different hydrophobe content (f) and hydrophobe block length (N H). Shear rheometry experiments revealed that P(DOAM-co-AM) copolymers formed gels characterized by a broad distribution of relaxation modes. In contrast, solutions of P(DPAMco-AM) copolymers exhibited a near-Maxwellian response although additional fast modes contribute significantly to the dynamic shear modulus at high frequency. For both copolymers, the dynamic shear moduli obtained at different temperatures could be time-temperature superposed, with a shift factor described by the Williams-Landel-Ferry equation. For P(DPAM-co-AM) solutions, the sticker lifetime (determined from the fitting of the dynamic moduli to a Maxwell model) was found to increase with increasing f but to be insensitive to N H, in the range examined. However, the plateau modulus Go decreases with increasing NH, which is related to the increase in strand length between stickers. Similar to P(DPAMco-AM) solutions, one relaxation time for the gels of copolymers with longer hydrophobes (in this case determined from the crossover in the elastic moduli) is more sensitive to f than to NH. The SAXS data for the P(DPAM-co-AM) solutions could be modeled using the structure factor for a polymer solution in a good solvent although enhanced fluctuations had to be considered for the polymers with higher hydrophobe content. The correlation length was found to decrease with increasing temperature for P(DPAM-co-AM) solutions, due an improvement of the solvent quality. But did not depend on the temperature for P(DOAM-co-AM) samples, probably due to stronger associations between hydrophobes. Trends of with N H and f are discussed.

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