Elucidating dominant pathways of the nano-particle self-assembly process
(2016) In Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 18(34). p.23494-23499- Abstract
Self-assembly processes play a key role in the fabrication of functional nano-structures with widespread application in drug delivery and micro-reactors. In addition to the thermodynamics, the kinetics of the self-assembled nano-structures also play an important role in determining the formed structures. However, as the self-assembly process is often highly heterogeneous, systematic elucidation of the dominant kinetic pathways of self-assembly is challenging. Here, based on mass flow, we developed a new method for the construction of kinetic network models and applied it to identify the dominant kinetic pathways for the self-assembly of star-like block copolymers. We found that the dominant pathways are controlled by two competing... (More)
Self-assembly processes play a key role in the fabrication of functional nano-structures with widespread application in drug delivery and micro-reactors. In addition to the thermodynamics, the kinetics of the self-assembled nano-structures also play an important role in determining the formed structures. However, as the self-assembly process is often highly heterogeneous, systematic elucidation of the dominant kinetic pathways of self-assembly is challenging. Here, based on mass flow, we developed a new method for the construction of kinetic network models and applied it to identify the dominant kinetic pathways for the self-assembly of star-like block copolymers. We found that the dominant pathways are controlled by two competing kinetic parameters: the encounter time Te, characterizing the frequency of collision and the transition time Tt for the aggregate morphology change from rod to sphere. Interestingly, two distinct self-assembly mechanisms, diffusion of an individual copolymer into the aggregate core and membrane closure, both appear at different stages (with different values of Tt) of a single self-assembly process. In particular, the diffusion mechanism dominates the middle-sized semi-vesicle formation stage (with large Tt), while the membrane closure mechanism dominates the large-sized vesicle formation stage (with small Tt). Through the rational design of the hydrophibicity of the copolymer, we successfully tuned the transition time Tt and altered the dominant self-assembly pathways.
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- author
- Zeng, Xiangze ; Li, Bin LU ; Qiao, Qin ; Zhu, Lizhe ; Lu, Zhong Yuan and Huang, Xuhui
- organization
- publishing date
- 2016
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
- volume
- 18
- issue
- 34
- pages
- 6 pages
- publisher
- Royal Society of Chemistry
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:84984688389
- ISSN
- 1463-9076
- DOI
- 10.1039/c6cp01808d
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- f74d0ea7-bf19-4210-826a-162e44c8149f
- date added to LUP
- 2022-04-04 08:42:43
- date last changed
- 2023-01-01 21:15:59
@article{f74d0ea7-bf19-4210-826a-162e44c8149f,
abstract = {{<p>Self-assembly processes play a key role in the fabrication of functional nano-structures with widespread application in drug delivery and micro-reactors. In addition to the thermodynamics, the kinetics of the self-assembled nano-structures also play an important role in determining the formed structures. However, as the self-assembly process is often highly heterogeneous, systematic elucidation of the dominant kinetic pathways of self-assembly is challenging. Here, based on mass flow, we developed a new method for the construction of kinetic network models and applied it to identify the dominant kinetic pathways for the self-assembly of star-like block copolymers. We found that the dominant pathways are controlled by two competing kinetic parameters: the encounter time T<sub>e</sub>, characterizing the frequency of collision and the transition time T<sub>t</sub> for the aggregate morphology change from rod to sphere. Interestingly, two distinct self-assembly mechanisms, diffusion of an individual copolymer into the aggregate core and membrane closure, both appear at different stages (with different values of T<sub>t</sub>) of a single self-assembly process. In particular, the diffusion mechanism dominates the middle-sized semi-vesicle formation stage (with large T<sub>t</sub>), while the membrane closure mechanism dominates the large-sized vesicle formation stage (with small T<sub>t</sub>). Through the rational design of the hydrophibicity of the copolymer, we successfully tuned the transition time T<sub>t</sub> and altered the dominant self-assembly pathways.</p>}},
author = {{Zeng, Xiangze and Li, Bin and Qiao, Qin and Zhu, Lizhe and Lu, Zhong Yuan and Huang, Xuhui}},
issn = {{1463-9076}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{34}},
pages = {{23494--23499}},
publisher = {{Royal Society of Chemistry}},
series = {{Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics}},
title = {{Elucidating dominant pathways of the nano-particle self-assembly process}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c6cp01808d}},
doi = {{10.1039/c6cp01808d}},
volume = {{18}},
year = {{2016}},
}