Binary hairy nanoparticles: Recent progress in theory and simulations

Abstract

Binary polymer brushes, including mixed homopolymer brushes and diblock copolymer brushes, are an attractive class of environmentally responsive nanostructured materials. Owing to microphase separation of the two chemically distinct components in the brush, multifaceted nanomaterials with functionalized and patterned surfaces can be obtained. This review summarizes recent progress on the theory and simulations related to binary polymer brushes grafted to flat, spherical, and cylindrical substrates, with a focus on patterned morphologies of multifaceted hairy nanoparticles, an intriguing class of hybrid nanostructured particles (e.g., nanospheres and nanorods). In particular, powerful field theory and particlebased simulations suitable for revealing novel structures on these patterned surfaces, including self-consistent field theory and dissipative particle dynamics simulations, are emphasized.The unsolved yet critical issues in this research field, such as dynamic response of binary polymer brushes to environmental stimuli and the hierarchical self-assembly of binary hairy nanoparticles, are briefly discussed.

How Does the Number of Arms Affect the Properties of Mikto-Arm Stars in a Selective Oligomeric Matrix? Insights from Atomistic Simulations

“… 3 − 8 As an example, a variety of nanostructured particles have been formed using triblock copolymers and tuning the mutual interactions in the sample in a sequel of steps. 9 − 11 These all-polymer, building blocks prepared by a directed self-assembly, in contrast to their analogues consisting of surface-modified inorganic nanoparticles, such as functionalized hairy silica nanoparticles, 12 − 15 exhibit not only contrasting surface properties but also an intrinsic anisotropy. 16 , 17 …”

Nanostructuring Single-Molecule Polymeric Nanoparticles via Macromolecular Architecture

“…To this end, grafting chemically distinct polymer chains to the surface of a solid or an organic nanoparticle, thus forming mixed brushgrafted nanoparticles, has attracted considerable attention as a practical route to construct multicompartment nanostructured particles. 8,9,22 In this case, when two immiscible polymers are grafted onto the nanoparticle, they can phase separate into different domains at the nanoparticle surface due to the balance between maximizing chain entropy and minimizing unfavorable contacts between the immiscible polymer chains. Depending on the polymer chain lengths, the Flory interaction strength, the grafting density, and the size of the solid particle, the self-consistent mean field theory and the fluctuating dynamic mean field theory have predicted the creation of a variety of surface patterns from Janus to multi-patchy ones.…”

Synthetic Methodologies for Chelating Polymer Ligands: Recent Advances and Future Development

“…In particular, grafted nanocomposites based on dithiocarbamate polymer brushes have been used for accelerate and enhance the capture of heavy metal ions . Binary polymer brushes containing homopolymer and diblock copolymer brushes are an attractive class of environmentally sensitive nanostructured materials …”

“…[74] Binary polymer brushes containing homopolymer and diblock copolymer brushes are an attractive class of environmentally sensitive nanostructured materials. [75] It is of interest to use CRP in the preparation of the brushes. [26b] In addition, apart from the impressive success in controlling the polymer composition and the uniformity, the introduction of compartmentalization in spatial structures can increase their functionality beyond their constituent parts, creating a huge potential for the preparation of given nanomaterials.…”