Planar multilayer structures were designed and prepared from various combinations of sequentially deposited layers of individual polyelectrolyte (PE) chains and layers of self-assembled block copolymer aggregates (vesicles, micelles, etc.), and their properties were investigated. The aggregates consist of negatively or positively charged corona chains on a non-ionic core (hollow in case of vesicles), while the PE multilayers contain alternating polyanionic and polycationic chains, deposited on silicon wafers. Two types of layer-by-layer (LbL) structures were studied: One consists of individual layers of identical aggregates sandwiched between PE multilayers; the aggregates can all be of the same type or, sequential particle layers can consist of aggregates of different morphologies or compositions. The second is composed of layers of individual aggregates of various morphologies and of different corona chain charges, deposited on top of each other without intermediate PE multilayers. Strong interactions between the successive layers are achieved mainly by electrostatic attraction between the oppositely charged layers. The planar LbL multilayers could, potentially, be used as carriers for multiple functional components with each aggregate layer loaded with hydrophobic (in the core of the micelles, LCMs or vesicle walls) or hydrophilic functional molecules (in the vesicular cavities). The overall thickness of such planar LbL multilayers can be controlled precisely and can vary from tens of nm to several μm depending on the number of layers, the sizes of the aggregates and the complexity of the structure.
