The dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations were performed to study the self-assembly behavior of amphiphilic nanoparticles in selective solvents. The effects of various parameters
including solvent selectivity
the length of grafting polymers and the grafting ratio of hydrophilic polymer to hydrophobic polymer
were studied. Then
the phase diagram of self-assembled morphology was constructed. A rich variety of morphologies
ranging from spherical aggregates
rod-like aggregates
two-dimensional membrane
and nanopore membrane were obtained as increasing the concentration of amphiphilic nanoparticles. Furthermore
the amphiphilic nanoparticles tend to self-assemble into the layered nano-aggregates when the solvent quality is poor (i.e.
aS-HL=40kBT/Rc
aS-HB=50×kBT/Rc)
and the porous networked aggregates were observed at high concentration of amphiphilic nanoparticles. The simulation results also revealed that the self-assembled aggregates are largely controlled by the concentration of amphiphilic nanoparticles and the ratios of grafting hydrophilic polymers to grafting hydrophobic polymers. In view of the rich self-assembly behavior of the parental nanoparticles
it has great potential application value in gas separation