Zhou Yaru, Ma Xiaodong, Zhang Liangshun, Lin Jiaping
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Advanced Polymeric Materials, State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, Key Laboratory for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China.
Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2017 Jul 19;19(28):18757-18766. doi: 10.1039/c7cp03294c.
The ability to design and fabricate highly ordered superstructures from nanoscale particles remains a major scientific and technological challenge. Patchy nanoparticles have recently emerged as a novel class of building units to construct functional materials. Using simulations of coarse-grained molecular dynamics, we propose a simple approach to achieve soft nanoparticles with a self-patchiness nature through self-assembly of tethered copolymers with a sequence of inner solvophilic and outer solvophobic blocks. As building units, the patch-like nanoparticles are directed to further assemble into a rich variety of highly ordered superstructures via condensation-coalescence mechanisms. The growth kinetics of the superstructures obeys the kinetic model of the step-growth polymerization process. Our simulations also demonstrate that the intermediate patch-like nanoparticles and the final assembled superstructures can be rationally tuned by changing the number and the composition of the tethered copolymer chains. This strategy of copolymer functionalization conceptually enables the design and fabrication of highly ordered superstructures of nanoparticle ensembles with new horizons for promising applications in soft nanotechnology and biotechnology.
从纳米级颗粒设计和制造高度有序的超结构的能力仍然是一项重大的科学和技术挑战。补丁状纳米颗粒最近作为一类新型的构建单元出现，用于构建功能材料。通过粗粒度分子动力学模拟，我们提出了一种简单的方法，通过具有内部亲溶剂和外部疏溶剂嵌段序列的 tethered 共聚物的自组装来实现具有自补丁性质的软纳米颗粒。作为构建单元，补丁状纳米颗粒通过缩合聚结机制进一步组装成各种高度有序的超结构。超结构的生长动力学服从逐步增长聚合过程的动力学模型。我们的模拟还表明，通过改变 tethered 共聚物链的数量和组成，可以合理地调节中间补丁状纳米颗粒和最终组装的超结构。这种共聚物功能化策略在概念上为纳米颗粒集合的高度有序超结构的设计和制造提供了可能，为软纳米技术和生物技术中的应用开辟了新的前景。
