Web Release Date: February 16,
Particle Distributions in a Block Copolymer Nanocomposite
and
Department of Mathematics, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading, RG6 6AX, England, and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
Received November 6, 2007
Revised Manuscript Received January 7, 2008
Abstract:
Self-consistent-field theory is used to predict the center-of-mass distribution of spherical nanoparticles
embedded in the lamellar phase of a diblock copolymer melt. The calculation is performed in the dilute limit,
where the particle-particle interactions have a negligible effect on the distribution. We investigate how the
distribution is affected by particle radius R, surface affinity 
N, diblock segregation 
N, diblock composition f,
and invariant polymerization index 
. While the preferred location of the particles (i.e., interface or domain
center) is primarily controlled by N, the degree of particle localization depends on several factors. Larger values
of R, N, and all tend to produce narrower particle distributions.
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