Chen Cangyi, Zhang Tiancai, Zhu Lei, Zhao Bin, Tang Ping, Qiu Feng
The State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Key Laboratory of Computational Physical Sciences, Department of Macromolecular Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7202, United States.
ACS Macro Lett. 2016 Jun 21;5(6):718-723. doi: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.6b00176. Epub 2016 May 26.
Hierarchical superstructures assembled by binary mixed homopolymer-grafted nanoparticles are investigated by using a self-consistent field theory (SCFT). Our results demonstrate that grafting mixed homopolymer brushes provides an effective way to program the spatial lattice arrangement of the nanoparticles. For the polymer-grafted nanoparticles with specific interaction parameter and total grafting density, the unusual non-close-packed simple cubic (SC) crystal lattice is obtained at small spherical core/polymer size ratios (/([Formula: see text]) < 1). As the size ratio increases to [Formula: see text] > 1, the nanoparticle arrangement transforms into a body-centered cubic (BCC) crystal lattice. Meanwhile, some unconventional microphases are formed in the polymer matrix, such as the tetragonal cylinder and simple cubic sphere phases. Furthermore, the two-dimensional (2D) model calculations reveal that the binary hairy nanoparticles prefer to arrange into the lattice in a way they can maintain the free energy-minimizing morphology as an isolated particle. Our findings suggest a possible strategy to design hierarchical nanomaterials composed of unique inorganic/organic hybrid superstructures.
