Influence of compositional gradient on the phase behavior of ternary symmetric homopolymer–copolymer blends: A Monte Carlo study

Sun, Dachuan; Guo, Hongxia

doi:10.1016/j.polymer.2011.10.039

Cited by 15 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…A low bending modulus means large thermal undulations. 19,21 It is reasonable to expect that "lying" JNs could produce a larger interfacial uctuation than "standing" JNs, which in turn stabilizes the BmE structure and destabilizes the lamellar order. Therefore, the region of phase space over which the BmE phase is stable is quite large for the "lying" JNs, as evidenced by Fig.…”

Section: Phase Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Generally, block and gradient copolymers, as the most common compatibilizers for polymer blends, can direct these ternary systems to form a variety of ordered mesophases. 19,46 From this perspective, we then speculate that the addition of sufficient amounts of JNs into a phase separating polymer blend might have a propensity to create a wide range of ordered microphase-separate structures. As an example, in a symmetric ternary blend of two immiscible homopolymers and JNs with a y-y makeup, a swollen lamellar phase may be formed, which consists of roughly equidistant particle-rich bilayers, separated from each other by homopolymer-rich domains.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Note that the stable microemulsions have already been found in ternary blends of two homopolymers and a diblock (or gradient) copolymer and oen take on two main morphologies: droplet and bicontinuous. [19][20][21] On the application side, bicontinuous microemulsions are highly desirable, and are now extensively utilized for drug delivery, oil recovery, many types of chemical reactions, and so on. [22][23][24] Interestingly, a very recent simulation study shows that by the sufficient addition of Janus nanospheres, the macrophase separation in an immiscible polymer blend is eventually prevented and a microphase-separated bicontinuous microemulsion-like structure is formed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The intriguing ordering and compatibilizing performance of Janus nanoparticles with various shapes and different dividing surface designs in immiscible polymer blends

Huang

Guo

2013

Soft Matter

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As a unique type of building blocks for directional self-assembly of superstructures as well as a novel class of stabilizers in polymer alloys, Janus nanoparticles if blended with immiscible homopolymers may not only open a route for fabrication of nanostructured materials with hierarchical order but also provide a means to stabilize immiscible homopolymers through formation of bicontinuous microemulsions. In this paper, by systematically investigating the phase behavior and phase dynamics of ternary systems composed of two immiscible homopolymers and Janus nanoparticles with various shapes and different dividing surface designs, we disclose the consequences and precise mechanism of varying the particle shape and the relevant dividing surface design on the ordering and compatibilizing performance of Janus nanoparticles for nanostructuring immiscible polymers. We demonstrate that a lamellar phase is only formed in systems with anisotropic "standing" Janus nanoparticles. This microphase ordering can go along with the lateral ordering of "standing" particles within lamellar layers and the exhibited inlayer arrangement is dependent on the particle shape. Moreover, the addition of Janus nanoparticles tremendously slows down the phase separation, and the compatibilizing performance is directly related to the total dividing surface area of Janus nanoparticles which is determined by the particle shapes and dividing surface designs. Particularly, the slow exponential domain growth dynamics at the late-time phase separation process follows a crossover scaling form regardless of the particle shapes and dividing surface designs, indicating that the phase separation dynamics of these systems is controlled by the same physical mechanism, that is, the interfacial aggregation of Janus nanoparticles reduces the interfacial tension to virtually zero.

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Section: Phase Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The intriguing ordering and compatibilizing performance of Janus nanoparticles with various shapes and different dividing surface designs in immiscible polymer blends

Huang

Guo

2013

Soft Matter

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“…They considered random, block and gradient copolymers with different composition gradients. Sun et al [28,29] applied Monte Carlo to investigate the interfacial properties and structure of ternary symmetric blends with gradient copolymers. Particle-based approaches naturally provide desired structure-property relationships, since they work on the scale of individual copolymer chains.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phase Behavior of Gradient Copolymer Melts with Different Gradient Strengths Revealed by Mesoscale Simulations

2020

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Design and preparation of functional nanomaterials with specific properties requires precise control over their microscopic structure. A prototypical example is the self-assembly of diblock copolymers, which generate highly ordered structures controlled by three parameters: the chemical incompatibility between blocks, block size ratio and chain length. Recent advances in polymer synthesis have allowed for the preparation of gradient copolymers with controlled sequence chemistry, thus providing additional parameters to tailor their assembly. These are polydisperse monomer sequence, block size distribution and gradient strength. Here, we employ dissipative particle dynamics to describe the self-assembly of gradient copolymer melts with strong, intermediate, and weak gradient strength and compare their phase behavior to that of corresponding diblock copolymers. Gradient melts behave similarly when copolymers with a strong gradient are considered. Decreasing the gradient strength leads to the widening of the gyroid phase window, at the expense of cylindrical domains, and a remarkable extension of the lamellar phase. Finally, we show that weak gradient strength enhances chain packing in gyroid structures much more than in lamellar and cylindrical morphologies. Importantly, this work also provides a link between gradient copolymers morphology and parameters such as chemical incompatibility, chain length and monomer sequence as support for the rational design of these nanomaterials.

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“…The analysis of interfacial fluctuations assumes typically only contributions from γ and κ [33,42,85,169]. Our working hypothesis therefore is that the classical ideas to analyse undulating interfaces, taking only γ and κ into account, will work best for systems that haveκ ≈ 0 and becomes systematically worse when the Gaussian bending rigidity deviates more from zero.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A one-parameter model for microemulsions

Varadharajan¹

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Influence of compositional gradient on the phase behavior of ternary symmetric homopolymer–copolymer blends: A Monte Carlo study

Cited by 15 publications

References 54 publications

The intriguing ordering and compatibilizing performance of Janus nanoparticles with various shapes and different dividing surface designs in immiscible polymer blends

The intriguing ordering and compatibilizing performance of Janus nanoparticles with various shapes and different dividing surface designs in immiscible polymer blends

Phase Behavior of Gradient Copolymer Melts with Different Gradient Strengths Revealed by Mesoscale Simulations

A one-parameter model for microemulsions

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