Journal de Physique II

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DOI: 10.1051/jp2:1993127
J. Phys. II France 3 (1993) 255-258

A conductometric analysis of mesogel formation by ABA block copolymers in w/o microemulsions

Hans-Friedrich Eicke¹, Mario Gauthier² and Holger Hammerich¹

¹ Institute of Physical Chemistry, Dept. of Chemistry, Univ. of Basel, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland
² Institute of Polymer Research, Chemistry Department, Univ. of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1

(Received 5 October 1992, accepted in final form 26 October 1992)

Abstract
A straightforward thermodynamic model is suggested to describe the (conductometrically measured) variation of the percolation temperature $(\Delta T_{\rm c})$ of a w/o microemulsion (H ₂O/AOT/isooctane) as a function of the initial concentration ratio (R=P₀/D₀) of ABA triblock copolymers (b-POE-b-PI-b-POE) and nanodroplets. Two copolymer concentration ranges are predicted, i.e. $\Delta T_{\rm c}\sim R^$ for $R\leqslant 10$ and $\Delta T_{\rm c}\sim R$ for $R\geqslant 10$ which are compatible with our experiments.