Issue 2, 2009
From the journal:

Soft Matter

Computer simulations and theory of polymer tethered nanorods: the role of flexible chains in influencing mesophase stability

Mark R. Wilson,*a   Angela B. Thomas,b   Matthew Dennisonb  and  Andrew J. Masters*b  

* Corresponding authors

a Department of Chemistry, University of Durham, South Road, Durham, UK
E-mail: mark.wilson@durham.ac.uk

b School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
E-mail: andrew.masters@manchester.ac.uk
Fax: +44 (0)161 306 9321
Tel: +44 (0)161 275 4679

Abstract

The mesophase behaviour of a polymer tethered nanorod is assessed by means of statistical mechanical theory and molecular dynamics simulation. A model system is considered in which a colloidal nanorod is tethered to a flexible polymer chain, which is able to form an “ideal” polymer coil in solution. As chain length increases, it is shown that the stability of the nematic phase first increases and then decreases, while smectic stability is continually enhanced. For a sufficiently long chain, the nematic phase is suppressed altogether and an isotropic-smectic phase transition is seen. It is shown by statistical mechanical theory that the major influence of the chain can be understood in terms of the radius of the polymer coil relative to the width of the nanorod. This provides the possibility of using good or poor solvent conditions to tune the mesophase stability of a colloidal system of nanorods, simply by changing the influence of a tethered polymer chain.

Graphical abstract: Computer simulations and theory of polymer tethered nanorods: the role of flexible chains in influencing mesophase stability

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/B812902A
Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 Jul 2008
Accepted
17 Sep 2008
First published
07 Nov 2008

Soft Matter, 2009,5, 363-368

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Computer simulations and theory of polymer tethered nanorods: the role of flexible chains in influencing mesophase stability

M. R. Wilson, A. B. Thomas, M. Dennison and A. J. Masters, Soft Matter, 2009, 5, 363 DOI: 10.1039/B812902A

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