How Many Phosphoric Acid Units Are Required to Ensure Uniform Occlusion of Sterically Stabilized Nanoparticles within Calcite?

Polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) mediated by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization offers a platform technology for the efficient and versatile synthesis of well-defined sterically stabilized block copolymer nanoparticles. Herein we synthesize a series of such nanoparticles with tunable anionic charge density within the stabilizer chains, which are prepared via statistical copolymerization of anionic 2-(phosphonooxy)ethyl methacrylate (P) with non-ionic glycerol monomethacrylate (G). Systematic variation of the P/G molar ratio enables elucidation of the minimum number of phosphate groups per copolymer chain required to promote nanoparticle occlusion within a model inorganic crystal (calcite). Moreover, the extent of nanoparticle occlusion correlates strongly with the phosphate content of the steric stabilizer chains. This study is the first to examine the effect of systemically varying the anionic charge density of nanoparticles on their occlusion efficiency and sheds new light on maximizing the loading of guest nanoparticles within calcite host crystals.