Predicting the Mesophases of Copolymer-Nanoparticle Composites
Loading...
Date
2001
Authors
Thompson, Russell B.
Ginzburg, Valeriy V.
Matsen, Mark W.
Balazs, Anna C.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Abstract
The interactions between mesophase-forming copolymers and nanoscopic par- ticles can lead to highly organized hybrid materials. The morphology of such composites depends not only on the characteristics of the copolymers, but also on the features of the nanoparticles. To explore this vast parameter space and predict the mesophases of the hybrids, we have developed a mean field theory for mixtures of soft, flexible chains and hard spheres. Applied to diblock- nanoparticle mixtures, the theory predicts ordered phases where particles and diblocks self-assemble into spatially periodic structures. The method can be applied to other copolymer-particle mixtures and can be used to design novel composite architectures.
Description
This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science on 292 June 29, 2002, DOI:10.1126/science.1060585.
Keywords
block copolymers, self-consistent field theory, nanocomposites