Thermoresponsive polymer assemblies via variable temperature liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy and small angle X-ray scattering

Joanna Korpanty, Lucas R. Parent, Nicholas Hampu, Steven Weigand and Nathan C. Gianneschi ()
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Joanna Korpanty: Northwestern University
Lucas R. Parent: University of Connecticut
Nicholas Hampu: Northwestern University
Steven Weigand: Northwestern University
Nathan C. Gianneschi: Northwestern University

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Herein, phase transitions of a class of thermally-responsive polymers, namely a homopolymer, diblock, and triblock copolymer, were studied to gain mechanistic insight into nanoscale assembly dynamics via variable temperature liquid-cell transmission electron microscopy (VT-LCTEM) correlated with variable temperature small angle X-ray scattering (VT-SAXS). We study thermoresponsive poly(diethylene glycol methyl ether methacrylate) (PDEGMA)-based block copolymers and mitigate sample damage by screening electron flux and solvent conditions during LCTEM and by evaluating polymer survival via post-mortem matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization imaging mass spectrometry (MALDI-IMS). Our multimodal approach, utilizing VT-LCTEM with MS validation and VT-SAXS, is generalizable across polymeric systems and can be used to directly image solvated nanoscale structures and thermally-induced transitions. Our strategy of correlating VT-SAXS with VT-LCTEM provided direct insight into transient nanoscale intermediates formed during the thermally-triggered morphological transformation of a PDEGMA-based triblock. Notably, we observed the temperature-triggered formation and slow relaxation of core-shell particles with complex microphase separation in the core by both VT-SAXS and VT-LCTEM.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-26773-z

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