Journal
LANGMUIR
Volume 29, Issue 27, Pages 8584-8591Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/la4013922
Keywords
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Funding
- NSERC
- DOE
- NSF [CHE-0750332]
- University of Pittsburgh Center for Simulation and Modeling
- SciNet at the University of Toronto
- Division Of Chemistry
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien [0750332] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Addition of nanoparticles can control the morphologies of grafted polymer layers that are important in a variety of natural and artificial systems. We study the morphologies of grafted polymer layers interacting attractively with nanoparticle inclusions, as a function of particle size and the interaction strength, using self-consistent field theory and Langevin dynamics simulations. We find that the addition of nanoparticles causes distinctive changes in the layer morphology. For sufficiently strong interaction/binding, increasing the concentration of nanoparticles causes a compression of the polymer layer into a compact, low height state, followed by a subsequent rebound and swelling at sufficiently high concentrations. For nanoparticles of small size, the compression of the layer is sharp and occurs over a narrow range of nanoparticle concentrations. The transition region widens as the nanoparticle size increases. The transition is initiated via a dense layer of tightly bound monomers and nanoparticles near the grafting surface, with a low density region above it. For nanopartides much larger than the characteristic graft spacing in the brush, the behavior is reversed: the nanoparticles penetrate only the dilute region near the top of the polymer layer without causing the layer to collapse.
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