SHAPED CORE-SHELL NANOPARTICLES PREPARED FROM SELF-ASSEMBLY OF BLOCK COPOLYMERS

Block copolymers can self-assemble into a variety of shaped nanoparticles and ordered nanomaterials either in solution or in bulk,which has great potential applications in areas of nanornaterial and nanotechnology. For further development of these areas, functionalization of the self-assembled nanoparticles was eagerly wanted. To mediate the structures, shapes and functions of these nanoparticles, well-defined functional block copolymers for self-assembly need to be synthesized with controlled polymerization. In this review, development on self-assembly of block copolymers is summarized based on related research progress in this group. Reactive block copolymers were synthesized by controlled radical polymerization first, then shaped core-shell polymer nanoparticles were prepared by self-assembly of reactive block copolymers either in solution or in bulk. After chemical or physical crosslinking, the morphologies of the nanoparticles can be fixed and then novel methods for preparation of core-shell polymer nanoparticless were obtained.