Block copolymer knots

TL;DR

This study investigates how the structure and interactions of block copolymer knots influence their physical properties, revealing tunable behaviors like swelling and size control relevant for medical and material applications.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the thermal and structural behavior of copolymer knots, highlighting how monomer configuration affects their properties.

Findings

Fast and abrupt swelling in certain multiblock copolymers with temperature

Size and swelling behavior can be controlled in diblock copolymers

Novel effects in thermal diagrams with increased knot length

Abstract

An extensive study of single block copolymer knots containing two kinds of monomers $A$ and $B$ is presented. The knots are in a solution and their monomers are subjected to short range interactions that can be attractive or repulsive. In view of possible applications in medicine and the construction of intelligent materials, it is shown that several features of copolymer knots can be tuned by changing the monomer configuration. A very fast and abrupt swelling with increasing temperature is obtained in certain multiblock copolymers, while the size and the swelling behavior at high temperatures may be controlled in diblock copolymers. Interesting new effects appear in the thermal diagrams of copolymer knots when their length is increased.