Telechelic star polymers as self-assembling units from the molecular to the macroscopic scale.
Phys Rev Lett
; 109(23): 238301, 2012 Dec 07.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-23368272
ABSTRACT
By means of multiscale molecular simulations, we show that telechelic-star polymers are a simple, robust, and tunable system, which hierarchically self-assembles into soft-patchy particles and mechanically stabilizes selected, open crystalline structures. The self-aggregating patchy behavior can be fully controlled by the number of arms per star and by the fraction of attractive monomeric units at the free ends of the arms. Such self-assembled soft-patchy particles while forming, upon augmenting density, gel-like percolating networks, preserve properties as particle size, number, and arrangement of patches per particle. In particular, we demonstrate that the flexibility inherent in the soft-patchy particles brings forward a novel mechanism that leads to the mechanical stability of diamond and simple cubic crystals over a wide range of densities, and for molecular sizes ranging from about 10 nm up to the micrometer scale.
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Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Polímeros
/
Substâncias Macromoleculares
/
Modelos Químicos
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Phys Rev Lett
Ano de publicação:
2012
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Áustria