Scaling Behaviors of Nanoparticle Clusters That Are Driven through Brush-Decorated Nanopores

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Cheng Wu Li - , Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden (Author)
  • Holger Merlitz - , Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden, Xiamen University (Author)
  • Jens Uwe Sommer - , Chair of Theory of Polymers at Interfaces, Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden, TUD Dresden University of Technology (Author)

Abstract

With the assistance of molecular dynamics simulations, we investigate nanoparticles (NPs) that are driven through a polymer brush-decorated cylindrical channel in a marginally poor solvent. The NPs tend to form clusters due to the repulsive interaction with respect to the polymer brush. Depending on the number of NPs within the channel and the driving force, either individually propagating droplets or a continuous flow state is obtained. We derive approximate scaling relations between the volume of the NP cluster and the number of particles in both states as well as the relation between the number of NPs located on the surface layer of the cluster as a function of the total particle number. These relations are tested by simulations. Furthermore, the conditions under which the dynamic transition between the individual droplet state and the continuous flow state takes place are studied systematically and the corresponding phase diagram is constructed. We also observe a strong hysteresis of this transition with respect to variation of the driving force indicating a barrier between the two stationary nonequilibrium states.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)8710-8720
Number of pages11
JournalMacromolecules
Volume56
Issue number21
Publication statusPublished - 14 Nov 2023
Peer-reviewedYes