Structure of polymer micelles at the solid interface

Aqueous solutions of block polymers offer a model system for the investigation of crystallisation as the macromolecules agglomerate for elevated concentrations into micelles, which crystallise as a critical volume fraction is reached. We report on grazing incident small angle neutron scattering (GISANS) as an experimental tool to investigate the micelle crystallisation that is found suppressed at a repulsive surface and favoured at an attractive one. Temperature or shear can align domains with different orientations in the bulk medium but disturb the long-range orientational correlations close to the interface. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.