Hairy nanoparticle assemblies as one-component functional polymer nanocomposites: opportunities and challenges

Abstract

Over the past three decades, the combination of inorganic-nanoparticles and organic-polymers has led to a wide variety of advanced materials, including polymer nanocomposites (PNCs). Recently, synthetic innovations for attaching polymers to nanoparticles to create "hairy nanoparticles" (HNPs) has expanded opportunities in this field. In addition to nanoparticle compatibilization for traditional particle-matrix blending, neat-HNPs afford one-component hybrids, both in composition and properties, which avoids issues of mixing that plague traditional PNCs. Continuous improvements in purity, scalability, and theoretical foundations of structure-performance relationships are critical to achieving design control of neat-HNPs necessary for future applications, ranging from optical, energy, and sensor devices to lubricants, green-bodies, and structures.

Dielectric performance of high permitivity nanocomposites: impact of polystyrene grafting on BaTiO3 and TiO2

“…[11][12][13][14] Recent advances in surface initiated ATRP and Cu-catalyzed "click" chemistry have led to an increasingly diverse group of polymer grafted, hairy nanoparticles (HNPs) that feature high ε r and refractive index core plus a polymer corona with tunable structure. [15][16][17] Solution cast films of these HNPs without an accompanying polymer matrix have recently been characterized for dielectric performance. Tchoul et al reported that hairy PS@TiO 2 matrix free assemblies at 27% v/v inorganic loading have a relative dielectric constant of 6.4, compared to 2.4 for neat PS, while maintaining low dielectric loss similar to PS (tan δ = 0.04 at 1 kHz).…”

Polymer-Tethered Nanoparticle Materials—An Emerging Platform for Multifunctional Hybrid Materials

“…The properties of particle brush materials (as well as other composite materials) can be finely tuned by controlling the grafting density at the organic/inorganic interface (Fernandes et al 2013). One effective strategy to control the initiator density is by intermixing the initiator with a nonreactive "dummy" coupling agent as illustrated in Fig.…”

“…These conformational transitions are particularly relevant in particle brushes in which the particle core radius equals the dimension of tethered chains and have been shown to influence the structure formation, interaction, as well as dynamic properties of particle brush materials (Choi et al 2010(Choi et al , 2012. The sensitive dependence of the physicochemical properties on the architecture of particle brush materials has fueled research into synthetic methodologies to control the architecture of grafted polymer chains and the implications of polymer-graft modification on the material properties and processability of particle brush materials (Fernandes et al 2013;Hui et al 2014).…”

The effect of polymer grafting in the dispersibility of alumina/polysulfone nanocomposites

“…[11][12][13] These characteristics have demonstrated to be very strongly dependent on the dispersion state of the nanoparticles in the polymer matrix. 14,15 Nowadays it is well established that the dispersion state of nanoparticles, within a polymer matrix, controls the physical and mechanical properties of the nanocomposite. 16 Thus, beneficial effects on mechanical and physical properties would be improved when stable dispersion of nanoparticles (NPs) is achieved without formation of the aggregates.…”