Small-angle X-Ray scattering measurements on amphiphilic polymer conetworks swollen in orthogonal solvents

Abstract

Amphiphilic polymer conetworks (APCNs), which combine two different polymer nanophases, have a broad range of applications that involve their unique potential to separately swell one of these nanophases in a selective solvent. Little is known about the structural changes of such APCNs upon swelling in dependence on the topology. Here, conetworks composed of poly(2-ethylhexyl acrylate) crosslinked by poly(2-methyl-2-oxazoline) (PMOx) are investigated with small-angle X-ray scattering in dry and swollen state using the orthogonal solvents water and toluene. The data clearly show that the structural changes induced by swelling are strongly dependent on the topology of the APCNs. While water leads to fusion of PMOx phases resulting in larger structures than found in the dry APCN, toluene is only swelling the hydrophobic phases without structural changes.