pH Induced Self-Assembly of Partially Hydrolyzed Polyacrylamide with Low Molecular Weight

The self-assembly of partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) with low molecular weight (Mw=28000) was investigated. The effects of different conditions on the hydrolysis degree have been studied. The HPAM micelles were prepared by changing the pH of aqueous solution. TEM shows that HPAM self-assembled into spherical micelles with an average particle size of 130 nm under alkaline conditions, while in acidic conditions it turned to be "nuclear - shell" spherical micelles (average diameter 100 nm) and large complex vesicles (150-350 nm) with pore size of 2-10 nm.