Understanding the Static Interfacial Polymer Layer by Exploring the Dispersion States of Nanocomposites

Published

May 5, 2019

Author(s)

Anne-Caroline Genix, Vera Bocharova, Bobby Carroll, Michelle Lehmann, Tomonori Saito, Susan T. Krueger, Lilin He, Philippe Dieudonne-George, Alexei P. Sokolov, Julian Oberdisse

Abstract

The dynamic and static properties of the interfacial region between polymer and nanoparticles have wide-ranging consequences on performances of nanomaterials. The thickness and density of the static layer are particularly difficult to assess experimentally due to superimposing nanoparticle interactions. Here, we tune the dispersion of silica nanoparticles in nanocomposites by pre-adsorption of polymer layers in the precursor solutions, and by varying the molecular weight of the matrix chains. Nanocomposite structures ranging from ideal dispersion to repulsive order or various degrees of aggregation are generated and observed by small-angle scattering. Pre-adsorbed chains are found to promote ideal dispersion, before desorption in the late stages of nanocomposite formation. The microstructure of the interfacial polymer layer is characterized by detailed modeling of X-ray and neutron scattering. Only in ideally well-dispersed systems a static interfacial layer of reduced polymer density over a thickness of ca. 2 nm is evidenced based on the analysis with a form-free density profile optimized using numerical simulations. This interfacial gradient layer is found to be independent of the thickness and mass of the initially adsorbed polymer, but appears to be generated by out-of-equilibrium packing and folding of the pre-adsorbed layer. The impact of annealing is investigated to study the approach of equilibrium, showing that initially ideally well-dispersed systems adopt a repulsive hardsphere structure, while the static interfacial layer disappears. This study thus promotes the fundamental understanding of the interplay between effects which are decisive for macroscopic material properties: polymer-mediated interparticle interactions, and particle interfacial effects on surrounding polymer.

Citation

ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces

Volume

11

Issue

19

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

silica nanoparticles, nanocomposites, small-angle x-ray scattering, small-angle neutron scattering

Citation

Genix, A. , Bocharova, V. , Carroll, B. , Lehmann, M. , Saito, T. , Krueger, S. , He, L. , Dieudonne-George, P. , Sokolov, A. and Oberdisse, J. (2019), Understanding the Static Interfacial Polymer Layer by Exploring the Dispersion States of Nanocomposites, ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=927573 (Accessed April 26, 2024)