Surfactant solutions homopolymer chains

Nonpolar block copolymers with functional polar groups combine the properties of a block copolymer with those of functionahzed homopolymers. End functionalized polymers can self-associate in solution in a manner analogous to low-molecular-weight surfactants, whereas the solid-state properties of the precursor polymer are greatly influenced by the presence of small amounts of polar groups since their aggregation persists in bulk [31]. The interaction of a polymer chain with a surface in solution can be altered and sometimes controlled by the nature and placement of specific functional groups. 

Polymeric surfactants can be homopolymers, random amphiphilic copolymers, and of the A-B (diblock), A-B-A (triblock), and BA (graft) types [23]. The A chain is referred to as the stabilizing chain (soluble in the medium), and the B chain is referred to as the anchor chain (insoluble in the medium with strong affinity to the surface). The simplest type of a polymeric surfactant is a homopolymer, such as PEO and poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP). Homopolymers are not the most suitable surfactants and it is better to use polymers with some groups that have affinity to the surface. The most employed copolymers are random amphiphilic copolymers, like poly(vinyl alcohol), diblocks of polystyrene-block-poly(vinyl alcohol) (PS-b-PVA), poly(ethylene oxide)-block-polystyrene (PEO-b-PS), and triblocks of poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly(propylene oxide)-block-poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO-b-PPO-b-PEO, Pluronic) (PPO resides at the hydrophobic surface, leaving the two PEO chains dangling inaqueous solution), andpoly(ethyleneoxide)-block-polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO-b-PS-b-PEO). The graft copolymer is referred to as a comb stabilizer Atlox 4913,... 

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