Self-organization in suspensions of telechelic star polymers

Abstract

The functionalization of telechelic star polymers (TSPs) bears the opportunity to obtain many different supramolecular structures and respective dynamic responses by controlling well-defined parameters such as the properties of functional groups, the arm number of the stars, the polymer flexibility. Hence, we employ both multiparticle collision dynamics and molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the self-organized network structures of TSPs by varying end-attraction strength, arm number, attractive end-group size and polymer flexibility. The equilibrium properties of end-functionalized TSP suspensions have been investigated. The structural properties change abruptly in the vicinity of end-attraction strength εLJ=3.5kBT for flexible TSPs and εLJ=3kBT for semiflexible and rigid TSPs. The coordination number is defined as the number of end-beads in close proximity of each other. The distribution of the coordination number is more uniform and narrower for stronger end-attractions. The coordination number decreases and the number of free end-beads increases with the increase of arm number for relatively rigid TSPs, and the diffusivity decreases as arm number increases. The coordination number increases with increasing attractive end-group size, while the number of free end-beads decreases. Finally, we find the semiflexible and rigid TSP suspension systems are anisotropic ones for strong end-attractions, relatively small arm numbers and big end-group sizes. We suppose this work could lead experimental researchers to design and develop new biological materials with complex architectures.