Figure 3.

Schematic illustrations of the morphologies of the PNB-g-(PS-b-PMA-b-PAA) molecular brushes at different stages. The molecular brushes were more flexible in DMF solution before dialysis, exposing the internal components to participate in intermolecular interactions. The dynamic hierarchical cylindrical structures were “frozen” in aqueous solution after dialysis and they could undergo thermo-driven disassembly. Due to the low degree of the flexibility in water, the disassembled molecular brushes could not re-assemble into cylindrical structures by simply cooling. Reproduction of the hierarchical cylindrical structures was achieved by lyophilizing the disassembled molecular brushes, dissolving them in DMF and dialyzing the solution against water.