Synergistic self-seeding in one-dimension: a route to patchy and block comicelles with uniform and controllable length

Self-seeding is a process unique to polymer crystals, which consist of regions of different chain packing order and different crystallinity. Here we report the synergistic self-seeding behaviour of pairs of core-crystalline block copolymer (BCP) micelle fragments and show how this strategy can be employed to control the morphology of these BCP comicelles. Each micelle fragment has a critical dissolution temperature (T-c), and unimers of each BCP have a characteristic epitaxial growth rate. The T-c value affects the dissolution sequence of the fragments upon heating, while the unimer growth rate affects the growth sequence upon cooling. By carefully choosing micelle fragments having different T-c values as well as growth rates, we could prepare patchy comicelles and block comicelles with uniform and controllable length. This synergistic self-seeding strategy is a simple yet effective route to control both length and morphology of core-crystalline comicelles