Dynamic control of the location of nanoparticles in hybrid co-assemblies

We herein demonstrated an approach to control the spatial distribution of components in hybrid microspheres. Hybrid core-shell structured microspheres (CSMs) prepared through co-assembly were used as starting materials, which are comprised of anthracene-ended hyperbranched poly(ether amine) (AN-hPEA) in the shell and crystallized anthracene containing polyhedral oligomer silsesquioxane (AN-POSS). Upon thermal annealing at a temperature higher than the melting point of AN-POSS, the diffusion of AN-POSS from the core to the shell of CSM leads to a transition of morphology from the core-shell structure to core-transition-shell to the more stable homogeneous morphology, which has been revealed by experimental results of TEM and DSC. The mechanism for the morphology transition of CSM induced by the diffusion of AN-POSS was disclosed by a dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulation. A mathematical model for the diffusion of POSS in the hybrid microsphere is established according to Fick's law of diffusion and can be used to quantify its distribution in CSM. Thus, the spatial distribution of POSS in the microsphere can be controlled dynamically by tuning the temperature and time of thermal annealing.