Covalent attachment of nanoparticles to copolymer surfaces to control structure-property relationships

Interest in functional nanoparticles has increased in recent years, because their small size gives them unique properties. Surface assembly of nanoparticles is particularly appealing, because it can create surfaces with tunable wetting and optical properties. This thesis presents a novel method for the covalent assembly of silica nanoparticles on random copolymer films via covalent bonding, and the subsequent analysis of the wetting and optical properties of these functionalized surfaces. First, the kinetics of the covalent attachment of amine-modified silica nanoparticles to poly(styrene-ran-acrylic acid) were investigated. The surface swelling of the copolymer films upon exposure to reaction solvents was studied with in situ AFM. The films\u27 surface roughness controlled the nanoparticle attachment kinetics, as well as the final nanoparticle coverage. For particle diameters on the order of the roughness features, 70% surface coverage was achieved, while particles with diameters much larger than the surface features reached only 30% coverage. The wetting properties of the nanoparticle surfaces were investigated as a function of particle coverage and diameter. At low coverages of small particles, the surfaces exhibited Wenzel-type wetting behavior. At high particle coverages, the surfaces showed Cassie-type wetting. Finally, the particles were observed to sink into the polymer film with increasing reaction time. This sinking, as well as the magnitude of the contact angles achieved at high particle coverages, led to the hypothesis that polymer chains wet onto the surface of the silica particles. Core-shell Janus particles were prepared by electrostatic assembly of gold nanoparticles on the unprotected surfaces of the silica particles. The plasmon resonance absorption of the gold particles underwent a red shift upon formation of closely-packed networks on the silica particle surfaces. By applying gold, chromium, and gold:palladium coatings to the Janus particles and annealing at 350°C for 5s-24h, the wetting between the gold and silica was tuned to form shell morphologies from patchy coatings to hemispherical caps, with absorptions in the visible and near-IR, respectively