TY - JOUR
T1 - Molecular theories of polymer nanocomposites
AU - Hall, Lisa M.
AU - Jayaraman, Arthi
AU - Schweizer, Kenneth S.
N1 - Funding Information:
Our theoretical work in the polymer nanocomposite area is supported by the Nanoscience and Engineering Initiative of National Science Foundation under award number DMR-0642573, and the United States Department of Energy, Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Science and Engineering under contract with UT-Battelle, LLC, via Oak Ridge National Laboratory. We gratefully acknowledge fruitful collaborations with Drs. Justin Hooper and Ben Anderson, and Professors Pawel Keblinski, Sanat Kumar and Chip Zukoski.
PY - 2010/4
Y1 - 2010/4
N2 - Significant progress towards the development of microscopic predictive theories of the equilibrium structure, polymer-mediated interactions, and phase behavior of polymer nanocomposites has been made recently based on liquid state integral equation, density functional, and self-consistent mean field approaches. The basics of these three theoretical frameworks are summarized, and selected highlights of their recent applications discussed for spherical, nonspherical, and polymer-grafted nanoparticles dissolved in athermal and adsorbing concentrated solutions and homopolymer melts. The role of nanoparticle size, volume fraction, and interfacial cohesive interactions is emphasized, especially with regards to their influence on filler dispersion and spatial ordering via entropic depletion attraction, polymer adsorption-mediated steric stabilization, and local bridging of nanoparticles. Some of the many remaining theoretical challenges and open fundamental questions are summarized.
AB - Significant progress towards the development of microscopic predictive theories of the equilibrium structure, polymer-mediated interactions, and phase behavior of polymer nanocomposites has been made recently based on liquid state integral equation, density functional, and self-consistent mean field approaches. The basics of these three theoretical frameworks are summarized, and selected highlights of their recent applications discussed for spherical, nonspherical, and polymer-grafted nanoparticles dissolved in athermal and adsorbing concentrated solutions and homopolymer melts. The role of nanoparticle size, volume fraction, and interfacial cohesive interactions is emphasized, especially with regards to their influence on filler dispersion and spatial ordering via entropic depletion attraction, polymer adsorption-mediated steric stabilization, and local bridging of nanoparticles. Some of the many remaining theoretical challenges and open fundamental questions are summarized.
KW - Bridging
KW - Density functional theory
KW - Depletion
KW - Dispersion
KW - Integral equation theory
KW - Polymer-grafted particles
KW - Polymer-particle mixtures
KW - Potential-of-mean force
KW - Steric stabilization
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=76749102798&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=76749102798&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cossms.2009.08.004
DO - 10.1016/j.cossms.2009.08.004
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:76749102798
SN - 1359-0286
VL - 14
SP - 38
EP - 48
JO - Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science
JF - Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science
IS - 2
ER -