Phase Structures in Polymer Systems

Many amphiphilic block copolymers and related oligomeric materials exhibit structure formation at a nanometre scale. By careful selection of the solvent, phase separation can be achieved allowing one block to be dissolved and the other to be immiscible. The head group(s) of a surfactant or the hydrophilic 

Under these conditions, broad distributions of the micellar size and mass can be observed. Furthermore, as a function of external conditions such as temperature or solvent composition, micellar shapes other than spherical can be observed, e.g. prolate or oblate elhpsoids of revolution. 

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