Chemically grafting suppresses initial solvent-driven nonequilibrium effect on structures and properties of polymer nanocomposites

 One of the long-standing issues to achieve uniform physical properties of polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) is precise control of particle dispersions. Thus, a great deal of studies has investigated the role of microscopic parameters such as size/shape/chemistry of particles/polymers to control the dispersion and demonstrate the structure-property relationship. The investigation of these parameters of PNCs assumed that PNCs are in their equilibrium states. However, recently, processing conditions such as the preparation pathway have been found to significantly impact the final structures and properties of PNC, noting the importance of processing-induced nonequilibrium effect.

 Our previous study reported that the degree of physical adsorption of polymers in PNC can be dependent on the casting solvent, bringing a noticeable nonequilibrium effect on the structures and properties of PNCs. In this work, we investigate the casting solvent-induced nonequilibrium effect for PNCs where interfacial polymers are chemically grafted. The nonequilibrium effect depends on grafting density. It is still present at low grafting density whereas the solvent-induced structural/property variation becomes minimal at moderate grafting density, suggesting suppression of the nonequilibrium effect.