Block copolymer micelles are composed of polymer chains with sequences of hydrophilic and hydrophobic blocks. In a dilute aqueous solution, they form spherical or cylindrical nano-objects comprised of several chains with a hydrophobic core and extended hydrophilic corona. Lipophilic drugs can be dissolved in the core of these micelles, while the corona will assure solubility […]

V. A. Baulin and E. Trizac
Soft Matter, 8 (25), 6755 – 6766 (2012)
The formation of inter-polyelectrolyte complexes from the association of oppositely charged polymers in an electrolyte is studied. The charged polymers are linear oppositely charged polyelectrolytes, with possibly a neutral block. This leads to complexes with a charged core, and a more dilute corona […]

A. Muratov and V. A. Baulin

Langmuir, 28, 3071-3076 (2012)

The stability of micelles self-assembled from block co-polymers can be altered by the degradation of the blocks. Slow degradation shifts the equilibrium size distribution of block co-polymer micelles and changes their properties. The quasi-equilibrium scaling theory shows that the degradation of hydrophobic blocks in the core of […]

A. Gezae Daful, V.A. Baulin, J. Bonet i Avalos and A.D. Mackie
J. Phys. Chem. B, 115, 3434–3443 (2011)
A single chain mean field theory is used to quantitatively describe the micellization process of the nonionic polyethylene oxide alkyl ether, CnEm class of surfactants at 25 °C. An explicit but simple microscopic model with only three […]

V.A. Baulin, A. Johner and J. Bonet Avalos
J. Chem. Phys., 133, 174905 (2010)
The interaction of amphiphilic polymers with small colloids, capable to reversibly stick onto the chains, is studied. Adhesive small colloids in solution are able to dynamically bind two polymer segments. This association leads to topological changes in the polymer network configurations, such as […]

V.A. Baulin, N.-K. Lee, A. Johner, C.M. Marques
Macromolecules, 39(2), 871 – 876 (2006)
Following up a recent paper on grafted sliding polymer layers [Macromolecules 2005, 38, 1434−1441], we investigated the influence of the sliding degree of freedom on the self-assembly of sliding polymeric surfactants that can be obtained by complexation of polymers with cyclodextrins. In contrast […]