(629a) Dispersion of Polymer-Grafted Nanoparticles in Polymer Thin Films
AIChE Annual Meeting
2009
2009 Annual Meeting
Materials Engineering and Sciences Division
Polymer Thin Films and Interfaces III
Thursday, November 12, 2009 - 3:15pm to 3:35pm
Effective dispersion of nanoparticles in polymer thin films is important for enhanced material properties, used for applications like organic electronic devices, sensors, and structural materials. Recent experiments on polymer-grafted nanoparticles dispersed in polymer thin films explored the entropically-driven phase behavior of the system as a function of the lengths of the grafted and free chains and the size of the particle compared to the sizes of each chain type. By modeling the interactions between a polymer-grafted particle and the substrate using self-consistent field theory, we capture the essential aspects of the system and report the theoretical phase behavior as a function of the key parameters. Because of the flexibility of our model for varying system parameters, it provides a helpful predictive tool for future experimental work on this system.