Micelles of Coil-Comb Block Copolymers in Selective Solvents: Competition of Length Scales

We study micelles formed by the coil-comb block copolymer, A-b-(A-g-B), in a B-selective solvent, S. The equilibrium distribution of micelles is obtained according to the thermodynamics of noninteracting micellar solutions, with the free energy of a single isolated micelle calculated using the self-consistent-field theory. Depending on the lengths of the various blocks and the balance of interactions, two types of micelles of different sizes and structures call be observed. This is a manifestation of the competition between two micellar assemblies of the coil-comb block copolymer at different length scales.