MICROPHASE SEPARATION IN BINARY POLYMERIC MICELLES

A theoretical analysis of microphase separation in binary micelles is presented. We consider micelles consisting of two kinds of diblock copolymers such that the micellar corona contains two chemically distinct block types (A and B). Both intramicellar and intermicellar processes may occur. We focus on intermicellar segregation occurring after a quench yielding complete intramicellar microphase separation. The intermicellar process, made possible by the associative nature of the micelles, is driven by line tension. This rather special driving force owes its importance to the enormously long phase boundary in the system.