Polymers adsorbing onto a surface can form a variety of different microstructure such as trains, loops, and tails (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2). Structurally, the population of each microstructure at the interfacial region varies with the polymer molecular weights, the polymer-nanoparticle interactions, and etc. The complicated surface conditions have strong impacts on the structure and dynamics of interfacial polymers. For example, the polymer adsorption is typically known as an irreversible process with extremely long lifetime. The long lifetime influences the dynamic modulus and flow properties of polymer nanocomposites. This project builds on our previous understandings of the properties of the interfacial layer between the polymer matrix and the nanoparticles, and extends to a systematic study on the influence of interfacial layer properties to the linear and nonlinear rheological properties of polymer nanocomposites.
Previous publications:
Cheng, S.; Carroll, B.; Bocharova, V.; Carrillo, J.-M.; Sumpter, B. G.; Sokolov, A. P., J. Chem. Phys. 2017, 146, (20), 203201.
Carroll, B.; Cheng, S.; Sokolov, A. P. Analyzing the interfacial layer properties in polymer nanocomposites by broadband dielectric spectroscopy Macromolecules 2017, 50 (16), 6149-6163.
Cheng, S.; Bocharova, V.; Belianinov, A.; Xiong, S.; Kisliuk, A. M.; Somnath, S.; Holt, A. P.; Ovchinnikova, O. S.; Jesse, S.; Martin, H.; Etampawala, T.; Dadmun, M. D.; Sokolov, A. P. , Nano Letters, 2016, 16 (6), 3630-3637.
Cheng, S.; Holt, A. P.; Wang, H.; Fan, F.; Bocharova, V.; Martin, H.; Etampawala, T.; White, B. T.; Saito, T.; Kang, N.-G.; Dadmun, M. D.; Mays, J. W.; Sokolov, A. P., Physical Review Letters, 2016, 116 (3), 038302.(Editor’s Suggestion)
Holt, A. P.; Bocharova, V.; Cheng, S.; Kisliuk, A. M.; White, B. T.; Saito, T.; Uhrig, D.; Mahalik, J. P.; Kumar, R.; Imel, A. E.; Etampawala, T.; Martin, H.; Sikes, N.; Sumpter, B. G.; Dadmun, M. D.; Sokolov, A. P., ACS Nano 2016, 10 (7), 6843-6852.