Insights from modeling into structure, entanglements, and dynamics in attractive polymer nanocomposites.

ABSTRACT: Conformations, entanglements and dynamics in attractive polymer nanocomposites are investigated in this work by means of coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation, for both weak and strong confinements, in the presence of nanoparticles (NPs) at NP volume fractions φ up to 60%. We show that the behavior of the apparent tube diameter dapp in such nanocomposites can be greatly different from nanocomposites with nonattractive interactions. We find that this effect originates, based on a mean field argument, from the geometric confinement length dgeo at strong confinement (large φ) and not from the bound polymer layer on NPs (interparticle distance ID <2Rg) as proposed recently based on experimental measurements. Close to the NP surface, the entangled polymer mobility is reduced in attractiv

SUBMITTER: Moghimikheirabadi A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8262555 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature