Nanocomposites

Nanocomposites combine the interesting properties of nanoparticles and the good processing properties of polymers. Usually nanoparticles and polymers are immiscible, to overcome this obstacle we developed a ligand exchange method. With this method it is possible to graft a brush-like polymer layer on the particles which alters the enthalpic and entropic interactions to enhance the miscibility in a polymer matrix. The polymer brush can be so dense that the brush thickness is directly correlated to the polymer length, up to several nm, which translates to the interparticle distance.

References:

• S. Ehlert, S. Mehdizadeh Taheri, D. Pirner, M. Drechsler, H. Schmidt and S. Förster
  Polymer Ligand Exchange to Control Stabilization and Compatibilization of Nanocrystals
  ACS Nano 2014,8,6114.

• S. Ehlert, C. Stegelmeier, D. Pirner, and S. Förster
  A General Route to Optically Transparent Highly Filled PolymerNanocomposites
  Macromolecules 2015,48,5323

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