Segregation of fluids with polymer additives at domain interfaces: a dissipative particle dynamics study

Area of Science:

• Soft Matter Physics
• Materials Science
• Computational Chemistry

Background:

• Ternary fluid mixtures with polymers are crucial for applications like emulsions and foams.
• Controlling interfacial properties is key to manipulating material behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate phase separation kinetics in ternary fluid mixtures (A, B, C).
• Understand how polymer properties influence the formation of polymer-coated morphologies.
• Explore applications in emulsion stabilization, rheology, biomimetic design, and surface modification.

Main Methods:

• Dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations in d=3.
• Modeling component affinities to direct polymer self-assembly at interfaces.
• Systematic variation of polymer concentration, chain stiffness, and length.

Main Results:

• Flexible polymer concentration impacts phase separation kinetics, showing dynamic scaling.
• Increased polymer concentration reduces growth rate due to lower surface tension and restricted connectivity.
• Polymer chain stiffness and length influence kinetics, with rigid chains showing more significant deviations.

Conclusions:

• Polymer properties critically control phase separation dynamics and resulting morphologies.
• Tailoring polymer characteristics offers a route to tune interfacial properties for specific applications.
• Simulation findings provide insights into designing advanced materials with controlled interfaces.