Figure 2: Structure evolution of complexation-driven assemblies.
From: Gel phase formation in dilute triblock copolyelectrolyte complexes
Diblock copolyelectrolytes assemble into star-like micelles. At low polymer concentration, discrete micelles remain suspended in the solution. With increasing polymer concentration, micelles jam, thus forming viscoelastic solids, and eventually order in cubic lattice structures. Triblock copolyelectrolytes are expected to form flower-like micelles at extremely low concentrations (the expected flower-like micelle is shown in the inset), but instead form interconnected gels that phase separate from the solution. Increasing polymer concentrations leads to growth of the networks until they percolate through the solution resulting in viscoelastic solids, followed by a disorder-order transition of the PEC domains. In the corresponding jammed/percolated and ordered phases, PEC domains have very similar size and arrangements, leading to nearly identical scattering patterns.
