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Controlled Assembly of Block Copolymer Coated Nanoparticles in 2D Arrays
Author(s) -
Leffler Vanessa B.,
Mayr Lina,
Paciok Paul,
Du Hongchu,
DuninBorkowski Rafal E.,
Dulle Martin,
Förster Stephan
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201901913
Subject(s) - copolymer , nanometre , materials science , nanoparticle , polymer , coating , nanotechnology , deposition (geology) , self assembly , composite material , paleontology , sediment , biology
Abstract The defined assembly of nanoparticles (NPs) in polymer matrices is an important prerequisite for next‐generation functional materials. A promising approach to control NP positions in polymer matrices at the nanometer scale is the use of block copolymers. It allows the selective deposition of NPs in nanodomains, but the final defined and ordered positioning of the NPs within the domains has not been possible. This can now be achieved by coating NPs with block copolymers. The self‐assembly of block copolymer‐coated NPs directly leads to ordered microdomains containing ordered NP arrays with exactly one NP per unit cell. By variation of the grafting density, the inter‐nanoparticle distance can be controlled from direct NP surface contact to surface separations of several nanometers, determined by the thickness of the polymer shell. The method can be applied to a wide variety of block copolymers and NPs and is thus suitable for a broad range of applications.