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To prevent the flocculation and phase separation of nanoparticles in solution, nanoparticles are often functionalized with short chain surfactants. Here we present fully-atomistic molecular dynamics simulations which characterize how these…
Explicit molecular dynamics simulations were applied to a pair of amorphous silica nanoparticles of diameter 3.2 nm immersed in a background electrolyte. Mean forces acting between the pair of silica nanoparticles were extracted at four…
Explicit molecular dynamics simulations were applied to a pair of amorphous silica nanoparticles in aqueous solution, of diameter 4.4 nm with four different background electrolyte concentrations, to extract the mean force acting between the…
The structural features of polystyrene brushes grafted on spherical silica nanoparticles immersed in polystyrene are investigated by means of a Monte Carlo methodology based on polymer mean field theory. The nanoparticle radii (either 8 nm…
This paper presents a study of the polymer-filler interfacial effects on filler dispersion and mechanical reinforcement in Polystyrene (PS) / silica nanocomposites by direct comparison of two model systems: un-grafted and PS-grafted silica…
We investigate by scattering techniques the structure of water-based soft composite materials comprising a crystal made of Pluronic block-copolymer micelles arranged in a face-centered cubic lattice and a small amount (at most 2% by volume)…
The aggregation of clay particles in aqueous solution is a ubiquitous everyday process of broad environmental and technological importance. However, it is poorly understood at the all-important atomistic level since it depends on a complex…
Ligand coated nanoparticles are complex objects consisting of a metallic or semiconductor core with organic ligands grafted on their surface. These organic ligands provide stability to a nanoparticle suspension. In solutions, the effective…
The evolution of the polymer structure during nanocomposite formation and annealing of silica-latex nanocomposites is studied using contrast-variation small angle neutron scattering. The experimental system is made of silica nanoparticles…
The contact mechanics of individual, very small particles with other particles and walls is studied using a nanoindenter setup that allows normal and lateral displacement control and measurement of the respective forces. The sliding,…
Hypothesis: We test whether the wettability of nanoparticles (NPs) straddling at an air/water surface or oil/water interface can be extrapolated from sessile drop-derived macroscopic contact angles (mCAs) on planar substrates, assuming that…
This study focuses on the interaction of colloidal silica nanoparticles with the magnetite (Fe3O4) magnetic fluids (MF), which eventually forms nanorod like structure. The aqueous magnetic fluid consists of magnetite nanoparticles having…
The structure of the transient layer at the interface between air and the aqueous solution of silica nanoparticles with the size distribution of particles that has been determined from small-angle scattering has been studied by the X-ray…
A study of the reinforcement effect of a soft polymer matrix by hard nanometric filler particles is presented. In the main part of this article, the structure of the silica filler in the matrix is studied by Small Angle Neutron Scattering…
We investigate the conformation, position, and dynamics of core-shell nanoparticles (CSNPs) composed of a silica core encapsulated in a cross-linked poly-N-isopropylacrylamide shell at a water-oil interface for a systematic range of core…
Nanoparticles can influence the properties of polymer materials by a variety of mechanisms. With fullerene, carbon nanotube, and clay or graphene sheet nanocomposites in mind, we investigate how particle shape influences the melt shear…
We introduced silica nanoparticles into poly ($N$,$N$-dimethylacrylamide) gel, (PDAM-NC gel), and poly (acrylamide) gel (PAM-NC gel), and carried out SAXS measurements under uniaxial elongation. It is well known that PDAM chains are…
It has recently been proposed that the miscibility of nanoparticles with a polymer matrix can be controlled by grafting polymer chains to the nanoparticle surface. As a first step to study this situation, we have used molecular dynamics…
The effect of silica nanoparticles on transient microemulsion networks made of microemulsion droplets and telechelic copolymer molecules in water is studied, as a function of droplet size and concentration, amount of copolymer, and…
Magnetic nanoparticles with Neel surface anisotropy, different internal structures, surface arrangements and elongation are modelled as many-spin systems. The results suggest that the energy of many-spin nanoparticles cut from cubic…