Colloidal interactions of inorganic nanoparticles grafted with zwitterionic polymer brushes and gels by surface-mediated seeded polymerization

Abstract

A robust and straightforward approach is introduced to synthesize inorganic nanoparticles chemically grafted with a zwitterionic poly(2-methacryroyloxyethylphosphorylcholine) (PMPC) thin layers. The synthesis method is based on the surface-mediated seeded polymerization. In order to observe how the polymer chain architectures affect colloidal interactions, the zinc oxide nanoparticles are grafted with linear brushes and with a thin hydrogel layer, respectively. The thickness of PMPC shell layers spans a few nanometers. The studies on suspension rheology for the nanoparticles show that the nanoparticles with PMPC brushes show the stronger repulsive force than those with the PMPC gel shell due to the entropic stabilization. When the shear force is applied to the Pickering emulsion produced by assembly of the nanoparticles, it is noticeable that the presence of PMPC brushes on the particles rather enhances the drop-to-drop attraction, which presumably stems from the entanglement of polymer chains between the contacted interfacial planes of the emulsion droplets during shearing.

Keywords: chain architectures; nanoparticles; suspension rheology; zwitterionic polymer.