(30b) Brushy Nanoparticle Complex Coacervates

Complex coacervation is an associative liquid-liquid phase separation phenomenon that occurs between oppositely-charged macroions. Such materials have a long history of use in applications ranging from personal care and food products to adhesives and medicine, but have traditionally been created from mixtures of polymers, proteins, or surfactants. However, there has been limited work to date on the incorporation of inorganic nanoparticles. Here, we describe the formation of complex coacervates from polymer-grafted silica nanoparticles. We compare the phase behavior of these particle-containing coacervates to those of the equivalent free polymer systems, and explore the effect of polymer brush length and grafting density. Ultimately, the combination polymer and silica in these materials raises interesting possibilities for the formulation of self-assembling composite materials.

Acknowledgement: We acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF CBET-1804177).