Interaction between Polymer Brush and Nanoparticle: Brownian Dynamics Investigation

Abstract

We use Brownian dynamics simulations to study the adsorption behavior of a nanosized particle on polymer brushes. The adsorption process, the dynamic behavior of the nanoparticle in brush, the penetration depth, and the diusion coecient of the nanoparticle in dierent depths of the brush are all investigated for dierent grafting densities. We provide an area density Γ , which is the area average of the monomer number above the embedded nanoparticle in brush. We nd that this area density explains well qualitatively the experimental phenomenon that the nanoparticles exhibit a maximum in the adsorbed amount as a function of the grafting density of brush.