Effect of Sonication on Polymeric Aggregates Formed by Poly(ethylene oxide)‐Based Amphiphilic Block Copolymers

Abstract

The effect of sonication on the size and structure of polymeric aggregates formed by amphiphilic block copolymers was studied by the combination of dynamic and static light scattering. Poly(ethylene oxide)‐block‐polyisoprene, poly(ethylene oxide)‐block‐polystyrene diblock copolymers, and poly(ethylene oxide)‐block‐polyisoprene‐block‐poly(ethylene oxide) triblock copolymer were used as typical polymeric amphiphiles. Sonication was found to be an effective method to break up inter‐micellar associations and split large polymeric aggregates, present initially in the aqueous solutions, into monodisperse micelles. The content and type of hydrophobic block, copolymer solution‐preparation protocol, and copolymer concentration were also investigated as co‐factors in conjunction to the effect of sonication time.magnified image

Fabrication of Ordered Nanopattern by using ABC Triblock Copolymer with Salt in Toluene

“…Generally, stir and post-treatment are required for polymer solution containing metal salts in order to trigger the coordination between salts and polymer chains for fabrication of ordered nanostructure, which takes a lot of time [ 22 , 28 ]. And the ultrasound is the simple way to accelerate the coordination between metal ions and block copolymer [ 29 – 31 ]. In order to demonstrate the advantage of ultrasonic treatment in this work, different methods were used after the mix of LiCl-toluene and triblock copolymer solution when the molar ratio of Li + ions to the total number of oxygen atoms (O) in PEO block and the nitrogen atoms (N) was 1:32.2([Li + ]:[O + N] = 1:32.2).…”

Polymeric Micelles of Biodegradable Diblock Copolymers: Enhanced Encapsulation of Hydrophobic Drugs

“…The physical loading efficiencies of the drug molecules in polymeric micelles were found to be dependent on the incorporation methods [ 72 , 97 , 140 , 141 ]. Table 3 demonstrates the effect of the preparation method on the micelle size and the drug-loading efficiency.…”

“…Table 3 demonstrates the effect of the preparation method on the micelle size and the drug-loading efficiency. Sonication turned out to be a very effective method for dramatically reducing the aggregate size, much more than centrifugation and extrusion [ 87 ], depending on the sonication time [ 87 , 141 ] and the nature of the block copolymer, where larger and denser aggregates were formed upon sonication of triblock-based micelles [ 141 ]. Both centrifugation and extrusion were found to decrease strongly the amount of loaded drug [ 111 , 142 ].…”

Multiple consecutive recapture of rigid nanoparticles using a solid‐state nanopore sensor

“…KCl and phosphate salt concentrations were controlled since high salt concentration accelerated the particle aggregation due to hydrophobic interactions . The nanoparticle suspension was treated in an ultrasonic bath for 30 min before each experiment . Dynamic light scattering experiments were employed to measure the size distribution of the particles in the buffer solution .…”