The influence of tether number and location on the self-assembly of polymer-tethered nanorods

Coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations were used to investigate the self-assembly of polymer-tethered nanorods with relatively high aspect ratio. The number and location of polymer tethers were varied to determine their influence on nanorod self-assembly. We found that laterally polymer-tethered nanorods self-assemble into structures with flat interfaces; these structures include stepped ribbons, stepped lamellae and lamellae with rods packed into bilayer sheets. The stepped lamellar phase is observed for the first time in this study. End polymer-tethered nanorods are prone to self-assemble into structures with curved interfaces, and the assembled structures observed here include spherical micelles and nematically aligned cylinders. The cylinder phase exists at high number densities, instead of the lamellar phase typically found for end polymer-tethered nanorods with relatively lower aspect ratio.