Issue 15, 2012

Structure and rheology of nanoparticle–polymer suspensions

Abstract

Structure and rheology of oligomer-tethered nanoparticles suspended in low molecular weight polymeric host are investigated at various particle sizes and loadings. Strong curvature effects introduced by the small size of the nanoparticle cores are found to be important for understanding both the phase stability and rheology of the materials. Small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and transmission electron microscopy measurements indicate that PEG–SiO2/PEG suspensions are more stable against phase separation and aggregation than expected from theory for interacting brushes. SAXS and rheology measurements also reveal that at high particle loadings, the stabilizing oligomer brush is significantly compressed and produces jamming in the suspensions. The jamming transition is accompanied by what appears to be a unique evolution in the transient suspension rheology, along with large increments in the zero-shear, Newtonian viscosity. The linear and nonlinear flow responses of the jammed suspensions are discussed in the framework of the Soft Glassy Rheology (SGR) model, which is shown to predict many features that are consistent with experimental observations, including a two-step relaxation following flow cessation and a facile method for determining the shear-thinning coefficient from linear viscoelastic measurements. Finally, we show that the small sizes of the particles have a significant effect on inter-particle interactions and rheology, leading to stronger deviations from expectations based on planar brushes and hard-sphere suspension theories. In particular, we find that in the high volume fraction limit, tethered nanoparticles interact in their host polymer through short-range forces, which are more analogous to those between soft particles than between spherical polymer brushes.

Graphical abstract: Structure and rheology of nanoparticle–polymer suspensions

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
04 Oct 2011
Accepted
13 Dec 2011
First published
11 Jan 2012

Soft Matter, 2012,8, 4097-4108

Structure and rheology of nanoparticlepolymer suspensions

S. Srivastava, J. H. Shin and L. A. Archer, Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 4097 DOI: 10.1039/C2SM06889C

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements