Standalone Block Copolymer Nanoballoons: Decoupling Self-Assembly from Implementation in Nanomanufacturing AITranslate

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DOI：https://doi.org/10.1021/acsapm.2c00647

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We report a facile method to produce isolatable hollow-core elastomeric vesicles, “nanoballoons”, prepared via block copolymer self-assembly in a polymer blend. Poly(isoprene-block-dimethylsiloxane) (PI–PDMS) diblock copolymers are blended with PDMS homopolymers (h-PDMS) as a “solvent” phase to template the self-assembly of PDMS-tethered vesicles with PI walls. The walls are subsequently crosslinked to yield mechanically stabilized elastomeric vesicles. The h-PDMS inner core and matrix are separated from the vesicles by dialysis to yield the matrix-free nanoballoons. These objects, 0.3–1 μm in diameter, can be further reincorporated into a crosslinkable PDMS. Throughout the self-assembly, recovery, and reincorporation processes we apply several techniques including solvent dispersion/dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements, transmission electron microscopy (TEM)/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) to provide a consilient body of evidence that the nanoballoon morphology is retained. This work presents advanced nanomanufacturing schema that illustrate the decoupling of the thermodynamic and dynamic factors that govern macromolecular self-assembly from the environment in which the self-assembled objects are deployed.