Aggregation of Poly(styrene)-Poly(ethylene oxide) Diblock Copolymer Monolayers at the Air-Water Interface

Amphiphilic block copolymers form an important class of materials which have attracted considerable attention because of their outstanding solution properties and a wide range of applications. These materials are very interesting from the point of view of fundamental research, as they exhibit self-assembling properties in the presence of a selective solvent or surface. Surface micelles at the air-water interface, of different morphologies depending on the balance between block sizes, have been directly identified by TEM and AFM for block polyelectrolytes and for nonionic diblock copolymers.