Environment-sensitive stabilisation of silver nanoparticles in aqueous solutions

Double-hydrophilic block copolymer-metal ion associations: Structures, properties and applications

Hybrid polyionic complexes (HPICs), constructed from double-hydrophilic block copolymers and metal ions, have been largely developed with increasing interest in the past decade in the fields of catalysis, materials science and biological applications. The chemical natures of both blocks are very versatile, but one block should be able to interact with ions, and the second one should be neutral. Many metals have been used to form HPICs, which have, in their simplest architectural form, a core-shell structure of a few tens of nanometers in radius with an external shell made of the neutral block of the copolymer. In this review, we focus our discussion on the stability, shape, size and inner structure of these hybrid micelles. We then describe the most recent applications of HPICs, as reported in the literature, and point out the current challenges, missing structural information and future perspectives for this class of organized structures.

On Complex Coacervate Core Micelles: Structure-Function Perspectives

The co-assembly of ionic-neutral block copolymers with oppositely charged species produces nanometric colloidal complexes, known, among other names, as complex coacervates core micelles (C3Ms). C3Ms are of widespread interest in nanomedicine for controlled delivery and release, whilst research activity into other application areas, such as gelation, catalysis, nanoparticle synthesis, and sensing, is increasing. In this review, we discuss recent studies on the functional roles that C3Ms can fulfil in these and other fields, focusing on emerging structure-function relations and remaining knowledge gaps.

Mie scattering by soft core-shell particles and its applications to ellipsometric light scattering

Through the use of Mie theory generalized to multiple spheres, the derivatives of the scattering matrix elements and ellipsometric scattering variables are found as a function of shell thickness and nonconcentricity for core-shell particles. In particular, for the case of a core-shell sphere system where the centers are not concentric, the derivatives are taken with respect to the line segment describing the distance between spherical centers. The derivatives of the scattering matrix elements can be used to calculate the changes in ellipsometric light scattering, allowing for sensitivity and precision in quantitative models of fluctuations in core-shell systems. Computed results giving model contrast for a variety of sizes and fluctuation modes are used to design and guide novel light-scattering experiments currently underway.