title: Theoretical Insight into Dispersion of Silica Nanoparticles in Polymer Melts.
abstract: Silica nanoparticles dispersed in polystyrene, poly(methyl methacrylate), and poly(ethylene oxide) melts have been investigated using a density functional approach. The polymers are regarded as coarse-grained semiflexible chains, and the segment sizes are represented by their Kuhn lengths. The particle-particle and particle-polymer interactions are calculated with the Hamaker theory to reflect the relationship between particles and polymer melts. The effects of particle volume fraction and size on the particle dispersion have been quantitatively determined to evaluate their dispersion/aggregation behavior in these polymer melts. It is shown that theoretical predictions are generally in good agreement with the corresponding experimental results, providing the reasonable verification of particle dispersion/agglomeration and polymer depletion.
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, and ‡Key Laboratory of Beijing City on Preparation and Processing of Novel Polymer Materials, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zhaoyang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, and ‡Key Laboratory of Beijing City on Preparation and Processing of Novel Polymer Materials, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yaqi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, and ‡Key Laboratory of Beijing City on Preparation and Processing of Novel Polymer Materials, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Nanying
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ning
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, and ‡Key Laboratory of Beijing City on Preparation and Processing of Novel Polymer Materials, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Liqun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, and ‡Key Laboratory of Beijing City on Preparation and Processing of Novel Polymer Materials, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, and ‡Key Laboratory of Beijing City on Preparation and Processing of Novel Polymer Materials, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jianguo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mi