Self-Assembly of Polymer-Modified FePt Magnetic Nanoparticles and Block Copolymers

Functional Nanocomposites from Self-assembly of Block Copolymers with Nanoparticles

Block Copolymers: Synthesis, Self-Assembly, and Applications

Research on block copolymers (BCPs) has played a critical role in the development of polymer chemistry, with numerous pivotal contributions that have advanced our ability to prepare, characterize, theoretically model, and technologically exploit this class of materials in a myriad of ways in the fields of chemistry, physics, material sciences, and biological and medical sciences. The breathtaki...

Enzymatically triggered self-assembly of block copolymers.

The polymerization of vinyl monomers with cleavable enzymatic substrates has been shown to lead to water-soluble double-hydrophilic block copolymers which, upon enzymatic activation of the diblock copolymers, become amphiphilic and undergo self-assembly into colloidal nanostructures. The ability to change the chemical and physical characteristics of polymeric materials by an enzymatic reaction ...

Self-assembly of rod-coil block copolymers.

We present a self-consistent field theory model for the self-assembly behavior of rod-coil block copolymers. The orientational interactions between the rods were modeled through a Maier-Saupe interaction, while the enthalpic interactions between rods and coils were modeled through a standard Flory-Huggins approach. We outline a "real-space" numerical approach to solve the self-consistent field ...

Dispersion of polymer-grafted magnetic nanoparticles in homopolymers and block copolymers

The dispersion of magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) in homopolymer poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and block copolymer poly(styrene-b-methyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA) films is investigated by TEM and AFM. The magnetite (Fe3O4) NPs are grafted with PMMA brushes with molecular weights from M = 2.7 to 35.7 kg/mol. Whereas a uniform dispersion of NPs with the longest brush is obtained in a PMMA matrix ...