title: Anisotropic elasticity of quasi-one-component polymer nanocomposites.
abstract: The in-plane and out-of-plane elastic properties of thin films of "quasi-one-component" particle-brush-based nanocomposites are compared to those of "classical" binary particle-polymer nanocomposite systems with near identical overall composition using Brillouin light scattering. Whereas phonon propagation is found to be independent of the propagation direction for the binary particle/polymer blend systems, a pronounced splitting of the phonon propagation velocity along the in-plane and out-of-plane film direction is observed for particle-brush systems. The anisotropic elastic properties of quasi-one-component particle-brush systems are interpreted as a consequence of substrate-induced order formation into layer-type structures and the associated breaking of the symmetry of the film. The results highlight new opportunities to engineer quasi-one-component nanocomposites with advanced control of structural and physical property characteristics based on the assembly of particle-brush materials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Crete and FORTH, P.O Box 71110, Heraklion, Greece.
authors.forename: Panayiotis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Voudouris
authors.forename: Jihoon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Nikos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gomopoulos
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sainidou
authors.forename: Hongchen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Krzysztof
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matyjaszewski
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Bockstaller
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fytas