Densely Packed Tethered Polymer Nanoislands: A Simulation Study
| Autor: | Preston B. Moore, Caitlyn McConnell, Nicolas Chen, Alexander Sidorenko, Oleg Davydovich |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
chemistry.chemical_classification
Materials science Polymers and Plastics Neighbor effect Organic chemistry 02 engineering and technology General Chemistry Polymer surfaces 010402 general chemistry 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology Bare surface Polymer brush simulation 01 natural sciences Article 0104 chemical sciences QD241-441 chemistry Chemical physics Molecular surfaces 0210 nano-technology polymers |
| Zdroj: | Polymers, Vol 13, Iss 2570, p 2570 (2021) Polymers Volume 13 Issue 15 |
| ISSN: | 2073-4360 |
| Popis: | COordinated Responsive Arrays of Surface-Linked polymer islands (CORALS) allow for the creation of molecular surfaces with novel and switchable properties. Critical components of CORALs are the uniformly distributed islands of densely grafted polymer chains (nanoislands) separated by regions of bare surface. The grafting footprint and separation distances of nanoislands are comparable to that of the constituent polymer chains themselves. Herein, we characterize the structural features of the nanoislands and semiflexible polymers within to better understand this critical constituent of CORALs. We observe different characteristics of grafted semiflexible polymers depending on the polymer island’s size and distance from the center of the island. Specifically, the characteristics of the chains at the island periphery are similar to isolated tethered polymer chains (full flexible chains), while chains in the center of the island experience the neighbor effect such as chains in the classic polymer brush. Chains close to the edge of the islands exhibit unique structural features between these two regimes. These results can be used in the rational design of CORALs with specific interfacial characteristics and predictable responses to external stimuli. It is hoped that this the discussion of the different morphologies of the polymers as a function of distance from the edge of the polymer will find applications in a wide variety of systems. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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