Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T20:24:34.003Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Why Structure Matters – Controlling the Properties of Nanoparticle Hybrid Materials

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Jihoon Choi
Affiliation:
[email protected], Carnegie Mellon University, Materials Science and Enineering, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Hongchen Dong
Affiliation:
[email protected], Carnegie Mellon Unviversity, Department of Chemistry, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Kris Matyjaszewski
Affiliation:
[email protected], Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Chemistry, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Michael R Bockstaller
Affiliation:
[email protected], Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Get access

Abstract

The complementary physical properties of the distinct constituents render polymer-grafted nanocrystals (PGNPs) intriguing materials systems in which property characteristics can be tuned over a wide range from hard particulate to soft polymer-type. Here we demonstrate that dependent on the molecular weight and the graft density of the grafted polymer chains, three characteristic regimes of PGNPs are observed: (1) hard-sphere type colloidal crystalline with the formation of cracks driven by short-range interactions, (2) plastic mesocrystalline with the crazing behaviors by chain entanglement, or (3) disordered structure with soft-polymer type interactions. In addition to controlling the mechanical properties of PGNPs, grafted chains can have a key role in mediating their gradual transformation into more ordered microstructures from nanoparticles with energetically unfavorable property (i.e., activation barrier for crystallization induced by polydisperse nanoparticles [1, 2]).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Pusey, P. N., and Megen, W. V., Nature 320, 340 (1986).Google Scholar
2 Auer, S., and Frenkel, D., Nature 413, 711 (2001).Google Scholar
3 Vaia, R.A., and Giannelis, E.P., Mater. Res. Bull., 26, 394 (2001).Google Scholar
4 Vaia, R.A., and Maguire, J.F., Chem. Mater., 19, 2736 (2007).Google Scholar
5 Whitesides, G.M., and Grzybowski, B., Science, 295, 2418 (2002).Google Scholar
6 Hachisu, S., Kobayash, Y., and Kose, A., J. Colloid Interface Sci., 42, 342 (1973).Google Scholar
7 Kose, A., and Hachisu, S., J. Colloid Interface Sci, 46, 460 (1974).Google Scholar
8 Cheng, Z.D., Russell, W.B., and Chaikin, P.M., Nature, 401, 893 (1999).Google Scholar
9 Zhu, J.X., et al., Nature, 387, 883 (1997).Google Scholar
10 Gasser, U., et al., Science, 292, 258 (2001).Google Scholar
11 Ohno, K., Morinaga, T., Takeno, S., Tsuji, Y., and Fukuda, T., Macromolecules, 40, 9143 (2007).Google Scholar
12R. A. Vaia, 2009.Google Scholar
13 Bombalski, L., Dong, H., Listak, J., Matyjaszewski, K., and Bockstaller, M. R., Adv. Mater., 19, 4486 (2007).Google Scholar
14 Pileni, M. P., J. Phys. Chem. B, 105, 3358 (2001).Google Scholar