Computer Simulation of Block Copolymer/Nanoparticle Composites

Abstract

Discontinuous molecular dynamics simulation is used to study the phase behavior of diblock copolymer/nanoparticle composites. The copolymers are modeled as chains of tangent hard-spheres with square shoulder repulsions between unlike species, while the nanoparticles are modeled as hard-spheres with a square shoulder repulsion with one of the copolymer blocks. The resulting phase diagrams are presented for composites containing nanoparticles of various sizes and interaction strengths and include lamellae, perforated lamellae, cylinders, and disordered phases. Composites containing large nanoparticles also exhibit two-phase coexistence between different copolymer phases or between a copolymer phase and a nanoparticle phase, depending on the nanoparticle interaction strength. We also present concentration profiles perpendicular to the lamellar interface for nanoparticles of different sizes and interaction strengths. Neutral nanoparticles concentrate at the interface between copolymer domains, while interacti...