Probing polymer conformation in nanoparticle confinement and the origin of their electrostatic stability
Nanoscale colloids are a crucial component of biomedical, optoelectronic and catalytic technologies. FlashNanoPrecipitation emerges as a novel approach for high throughput nanoparticle production and involves the confined jetting of opposite streams of dilute polymer solution and non-solvent. Several outstanding questions remain regarding the formation and stability of nanoparticles by this approach; How are the polymer chains arranged within the NP, following their collapse during NP formation and what are their dimensions under nanoscale confinement? Secondly, nanoparticles generated by FlashNanoPrecipitation are often highly stable despite the lack of charged end groups and additional block copolymer or surfactant stabilisation. What is the origin of this stabilisation? In our proposal, we seek to address these questions through the use of a microfluidic contrast variation, to investigate chain conformation, and dilution experiments, to resolve the inter-particle interactions, from h/d polystyrene nanoparticle suspensions. In doing so, we aim to resolve the conformation of polystyrene chains confined within nanoparticles and the anomalous origin of their stability.
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CABRAL Joao T.; PELLEGRINO Luca; PORCAR Lionel; PRIESTLEY Rodney and W. N. Sharratt. (2020). Probing polymer conformation in nanoparticle confinement and the origin of their electrostatic stability. Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) doi:10.5291/ILL-DATA.9-12-575
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