Architecture of polymer particles composed of brush structure at surfaces and construction of colloidal crystals

Abstract

The synthesis of polymer particles is reported, which are composed of (1) a spherical colloidal core particle, (2) encapsulation of such seed particles with the inimer 4-vinylbenzyl N,N-diethyldithiocarbamate (VBDC) providing the formation of a hyperbranched structure by a living radical mechanism, and followed by (3) a grafted polymer brush prepared by photo-induced atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The particle sizes (number-average particle diameter D n = 190–300 nm) were controlled by varying the temperature and size distributions were extremely narrow ( D w/ D n = ca. 1.0001). By variation of the particle size, the brilliant color could be varied throughout the visible spectrum. The morphology of the core–shell particles and the properties of corresponding film were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), dynamic light scattering (DLS), reflection spectrum measurements, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).