Issue 13, 2020

Molecular simulation of the shape deformation of a polymersome

Abstract

Vesicles composed of diblock copolymers, or polymersomes, have proven to possess numerous applications ranging from drug delivery to catalytically driven nano-motors. The shape of a polymersome can be responsive to external stimuli, such as light or solvent. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal that the shape change upon the contraction of the inner volume of a polymersome vesicle occurs in two separate regimes—a stretching regime and a bending regime. The barrier is shown to be dependent on the solvent environment. These results suggest that tailoring the bending modulus of polymer membranes can be used as a design methodology to engineer new stimuli-responsive vesicles.

Graphical abstract: Molecular simulation of the shape deformation of a polymersome

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
30 Oct 2019
Accepted
03 Mar 2020
First published
04 Mar 2020

Soft Matter, 2020,16, 3234-3244

Author version available

Molecular simulation of the shape deformation of a polymersome

K. Chakraborty, W. Shinoda and S. M. Loverde, Soft Matter, 2020, 16, 3234 DOI: 10.1039/C9SM02165E

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