Assembly of Polymer-Grafted
Magnetic Nanoparticles
in Polymer Melts
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Abstract
Hydrophobic iron oxide nanoparticles grafted with hydrophobic
polymer
chains of varying molecular weights and graft densities are synthesized
to underpin the role of brush entanglement and dipolar forces on creating
nanostructures. Grafting density on magnetic nanoparticles is controlled
in grafting-to method by changing the concentration of functionalized
polymer in solution. The grafting density and brush length have varied
systemically to observe the changes in nanostructures. Bridging between
grafted chains and dipolar forces become effective only at low grafting
density and result in long chains of particles. We demonstrate experimentally
that structural transition of magnetic nanoparticles is controlled
with the balance between grafted chain entanglements and dipolar forces