Uniform, High Aspect Ratio Fiber-like Micelles and Block Co-micelles with a Crystalline pi-Conjugated Polythiophene Core by Self-Seeding

Monodisperse fiber-like micelles with a crystalline pi-conjugated polythiophene core with lengths up to ca. 700 nm were successfully prepared from the diblock copolymer poly(3-hexylthiophene)-block-poly-styrene using a one-dimensional self-seeding technique. Addition of a polythiophene block copolymer with a different corona-forming block to the resulting nanofibers led to the formation of segmented B-A-B triblock co-micelles by crystallization-driven seeded growth. The key to these advances appears to be the formation of a relatively defect-free crystalline micelle core under the self-seeding conditions.