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Simulating Surface Patterning of Nanoparticles by Polymers via Dissipative Particle Dynamics Method
Minqing Gong1, Qiuyan Yu1, Chenglin Wang1
1Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of High Performance Polymer Material and Technology of Ministry of Education, State Key Laboratory of Coordination Chemistry and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Life Sciences , Nanjing University , No.163, Xianlin Road , Nanjing 210023 , China.
Abstract:
Patchy particles are often referred to colloidal particles with physically or chemically patterned surfaces. We investigated the patterning of nanoparticle grafted by polymers, mainly consisting of patchy structures with different numbers of patches ( Npatch) and core-shell structure using the dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) method in good or poor solvents based on the experiment research. Poor solvent, large nanoparticle, proper grafting density and medium polymer length contribute to the formation of patchy structure. We introduce the effective volume fraction as an indicator to distinguish the patchy structure from core-shell structure. The reversible transition between core-shell (in a good solvent) and patchy structure (in a poor solvent) and the dependency relationship between the nanoparticle diameter and grafting density in experiment are verified. Our results pave the way for preparing the colloids with well-defined patches. The anisotropic patchy particles can self-assemble into elaborate superstructures, which are potential blocking materials for drug delivery, sensors, and electronics.
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