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Updated: May 11, 2026

Using Polystyrene-block-poly(acrylic acid)-coated Metal Nanoparticles as Monomers for Their Homo- and Co-polymerization
Published on: July 9, 2015
Chain conformation in polymer nanocomposites with uniformly dispersed nanoparticles
M K Crawford1, R J Smalley, G Cohen
1DuPont Central Research and Development, E400/5424, Wilmington, Delaware 19880-0400, USA.
Abstract:
The effect of nanoparticles (NP) on chain dimensions in polymer melts has been the source of considerable theoretical and experimental controversy. We exploit our ability to ensure a spatially uniform dispersion of 13 nm silica NPs miscible in polystyrene melts, together with neutron scattering, x-ray scattering, and transmission electron microscopy, to show that there is no measurable change in the polymer size in miscible mixtures, regardless of the relative sizes of the chains and the nanoparticles, and for NP loadings as high as 32.7 vol%. Our results provide a firm basis from which to understand the properties of polymer nanocomposites.
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