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Updated: Jul 17, 2026

Synthesis of Cyclic Polymers and Characterization of Their Diffusive Motion in the Melt State at the Single Molecule Level
Published on: September 26, 2016
Integral equation theory study on the structure and effective interactions in star polymer nanocomposite melts
Lei Zhao1, Yi-Gui Li, Chongli Zhong
1Department of Chemical Engineering, The Key Laboratory of Bioprocess of Beijing, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China.
Abstract:
The polymer reference interaction site model theory is used to investigate the radial distribution function, potential of mean force, depletion force, and second virial coefficient in star polymer nanocomposite melts. The contact aggregation of nanoparticles for relatively weak nanoparticle-monomer attraction and the bridging aggregation of nanoparticles for very large nanoparticle-monomer attraction are observed. The star architecture can well suppress the organization states of direct contact and bridging structure for the moderate nanoparticle-monomer attraction, and promote the bridging-type organization for relatively large nanoparticle-monomer attraction. At constant particle volume fraction, the arm length quantitatively affects the organization states of star polymer nanocomposite melt, and larger repulsive barriers are existent to prevent the contact aggregation of larger nanoparticles. These observations provide useful information for the development of new nanocomposite materials.
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