Scientific Achievement
Gained a fundamental understanding of the assembly process of polyelectrolyte star block copolymers at incompatible interfaces for the first time.
Significance and Impact
The model enables understanding and prediction of interfacial properties of a general class of charged star block copolymers for applications as stealth surfactants or amphiphiles for chemical transformations and separations.
Research Details
- Coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations were used
Simulations were compared to results from pendant drop tensiometry and vibrational sum frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy experiments
J.Y. Carrillo, et al., “Assembly of Polyelectrolyte Star Block Copolymers at the Oil-Water Interface,” Nanoscale 15, 1042-1052 (2023).
Work performed at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences and used resources of the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility