Structure of Block Copolymer Hydrogel Formed by Complex Coacervate Process

Complex coacervation occurs when oppositely charged polyelectrolytes associate in solution, forming dense micron-sized droplets. Hydrogels with coacervate block domains were formed by mixing two ABA and A'BA' triblock copolymer solutions in water where the A and A' blocks are oppositely charged. Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) was used to investigate the structure of hydrogels formed by ABA triblock copolymers (A block: poly(allyl glycidyl ether) functionalized with guanidinium (A) or sulfonate (A'), B block: poly(ethylene oxide)). By using an appropriate fitting model, structural information such as coacervate core block radius and water volume fraction w can be extracted from SANS data. The results reveal that w in the coacervate core block was significantly higher than in conventional triblock copolymer hydrogels where microphase separation is driven by the hydrophobicity of the core-forming blocks.