Dispersing nanoparticles in a polymer film via solvent evaporation

Cheng, Shengfeng; Grest, Gary S.

doi:10.1021/acsmacrolett.6b00263

Title: Dispersing nanoparticles in a polymer film via solvent evaporation

Journal Article · Thu May 19 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · ACS Macro Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmacrolett.6b00263· OSTI ID:1263596

Cheng, Shengfeng ^[1]; Grest, Gary S. ^[2]

Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States)
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Large-scale molecular dynamics simulations are used to study the dispersion of nanoparticles (NPs) in a polymer film during solvent evaporation. As the solvent evaporates, a dense polymer-rich skin layer forms at the liquid/vapor interface, which is either NP rich or poor depending on the strength of the NP/polymer interaction. When the NPs are strongly wet by the polymer, the NPs accumulate at the interface and form layers. However, when the NPs are only partially wet by the polymer, most NPs are uniformly distributed in the bulk of the polymer film, with the dense skin layer serving as a barrier to prevent the NPs from moving to the interface. Furthermore, our results point to a possible route to employ less favorable NP/polymer interactions and fast solvent evaporation to uniformly disperse NPs in a polymer film, contrary to the common belief that strong NP/polymer attractions are needed to make NPs well dispersed in polymer nanocomposites.

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Research Organization:: Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC04-94AL85000

OSTI ID:: 1263596

Report Number(s):: SAND-2016-4785J; 644871

Journal Information:: ACS Macro Letters, Vol. 5, Issue 6; ISSN 2161-1653

Publisher:: American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 82 works

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