A New Self-Consistent Field Model of Polymer/Nanoparticle Mixture.

ABSTRACT: Field-theoretical method is efficient in predicting assembling structures of polymeric systems. However, it's challenging to generalize this method to study the polymer/nanoparticle mixture due to its multi-scale nature. Here, we develop a new field-based model which unifies the nanoparticle description with the polymer field within the self-consistent field theory. Instead of being "ensemble-averaged" continuous distribution, the particle density in the final morphology can represent individual particles located at preferred positions. The discreteness of particle density allows our model to properly address the polymer-particle interface and the excluded-volume interaction. We use this model to study the simplest system of nanoparticles immersed in the dense homopolymer solution. The fle

SUBMITTER: Chen K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4734332 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature