Self Assembly of Tethered Nanoparticle Telechelics

Recent simulations predict that aggregating nanoparticles functionalized with polymer
tethers can self-assemble to form phases seen in block copolymer and surfactant systems,
but with additional nanoparticle ordering and mesophase complexity. Here we consider a
novel class of “telechelic” tethered nanoparticle building blocks, where two nanoparticles
are connected together by a polymer tether. The architecture is similar to a triblock
copolymer, but with additional geometric constraints imposed by the rigid particle end
groups. Using Brownian dynamics simulations, we explore the phase diagrams of several
examples of this class of nano-building-block, and present predictions of novel phases
and their dependence on particle size and shape, tether length, and thermodynamic
parameters.

This work is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy
Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering, under grant # DE-FG02-
02ER46000.