Ring-Like Assembly of Silica Nanospheres in the Presence of Amphiphilic Block Copolymer: Effects of Particle Size.

Block copolymer-mediated self-assembly of colloidal nanoparticles has attracted great attention for the fabrication of a wide variety of nanoparticle arrays. We have previously shown that silica nanospheres (SNSs) 15 nm in diameter assemble into ring-like nanostructures in the presence of amphiphilic block copolymers poly[(2-ethoxyethyl vinyl ether)- block-(2-methoxyethyl vinyl ether)] (EOVE-MOVE) in an aqueous phase. Here, the effects of particle size of SNSs on this polymer-mediated self-assembly are studied systematically using scanning electron microscopy to observe SNSs of seven different sizes between 13 to 42 nm.