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Field-theoretical method is efficient in predicting the assembling structuresof polymeric systems. However, for the polymer/nanoparticle mixture, thecontinuous density description is not suitable to capture the realisticassembly of particles, especially when the size of particle is much larger thanthe polymer segment. Here, we developed a field-based model, in which theparticles are eventually discrete and hence it can overcome the drawbacks ofthe conventional field descriptions, e.g., inadequate and crude treatment onthe polymer-particle interface and the excluded-volume interaction. We appliedthe model to study the simplest system of nanoparticles immersed in densehomopolymer solution. Our model can address the depletion effect andinterfacial interaction in a more delicate way. Insights into the enthalpicand/or entropic origin of the structural variation due to the competitionbetween depletion and interfacial interaction are obtained. New phenomena suchas depletion-enhanced bridging aggregation are observed in the case of stronginterfacial attraction and large depletion length. This approach is readilyextendable to studying more complex polymer-based nanocomposites orbiology-related systems, such as dendrimer/drug encapsulation andmembrane/particle assembly.

New Field Model of Polymer/Nanoparticle Mixture-Realizing Discreteness in the Continuous Description