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Polymerization-induced self-assembly of thermoresponsive micelles and their lubrication adaptivity

Polymer Journal volume 57, pages 1115–1125 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Responsive materials have significant application value because of their ability to actively adjust their structure or properties in response to external stimuli. Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) is widely used to form micelles, particularly for drug delivery, because its lower critical solution temperature (LCST) is close to body temperature. However, the preparation of micelles based on PNIPAM block copolymers often involves complex processes, which limit their broader application. Here, we employed polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) combined with in situ crosslinking to synthesize stabilized thermoresponsive micelles, such as poly(glycerol methacrylate)-b-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-B (PGMAx-b-PNIPAMy-B), which are spherical micelles with a thermoresponsive core of PNIPAM and a crosslinked shell of PGMA formed by sodium tetraborate decahydrate. The micelles exhibited rapid and reversible self-assembly and collapsed at 31 °C, enabling temperature regulation through light transmittance, which makes them suitable for smart window applications. Furthermore, these micelles demonstrated excellent friction-reducing and wear-resistant properties at various temperatures (25–36 °C) and under various loads (20–70 N), indicating their adaptive lubrication as additives. This work presents the facile fabrication of thermoresponsive micelles and expands the application of PISA technology in the tribological field.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge funding from the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB0470303), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52105223), and the CAS Project for Young Scientists in Basic Research (YSBR-023).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Petrochemical Technology, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou, China

    Linjie Yang, Hanfeng Liu & Jianqiang Zhang

  2. Key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, PR China

    Linjie Yang, Hanfeng Liu, Pengrui Cao, Junhui Gong, Xinrui Zhang, Tingmei Wang, Liming Tao, Xianqiang Pei, Qihua Wang & Yaoming Zhang

  3. Yantai Zhongke Research Institute of Advanced Materials and Green Chemical Engineering, Yantai, China

    Xianqiang Pei & Yaoming Zhang

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  1. Linjie Yang
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Contributions

Linjie Yang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing−original draft. Hanfeng Liu: Methodology, Data Curation. Pengrui Cao: Methodology, Data Curation. Junhui Gong: Methodology, Data Curation. Xinrui Zhang: Funding Acquisition, Supervision. Tingmei Wang: Funding Acquisition, Methodology, Supervision. Liming Tao: Methodology, Supervision. Xianqiang Pei: Methodology, Supervision. Qihua Wang: Methodology, Funding Acquisition, Supervision. Jianqiang Zhang: Methodology, Writing−review & editing, Supervision. Yaoming Zhang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Funding Acquisition, Writing−review & editing, Supervision.

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Correspondence to Xianqiang Pei, Qihua Wang, Jianqiang Zhang or Yaoming Zhang.

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Yang, L., Liu, H., Cao, P. et al. Polymerization-induced self-assembly of thermoresponsive micelles and their lubrication adaptivity. Polym J 57, 1115–1125 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41428-025-01057-1

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