Entropy-driven segregation of polymer-grafted nanoparticles under confinement.

ABSTRACT: The modification of nanoparticles with polymer ligands has emerged as a versatile approach to control the interactions and organization of nanoparticles in polymer nanocomposite materials. Besides their technological significance, polymer-grafted nanoparticle (PGNP) dispersions have attracted interest as model systems to understand the role of entropy as a driving force for microstructure formation. For instance, densely and sparsely grafted nanoparticles show distinct dispersion and assembly behaviors within polymer matrices due to the entropy variation associated with conformational changes in brush and matrix chains. Here we demonstrate how this entropy change can be harnessed to drive PGNPs into spatially organized domain structures on submicrometer scale within topographically pattern

SUBMITTER: Zhang R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5347555 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature