| The design of materials with tailored properties requires control over their structure in the nanometer scale. Applications also require that this structure control is carried out using self-assembly processes that occur in large numbers and short timescales. A self-assembling template can be used to control the structure of dispersed materials that do not self-assemble in solution. In this work we use the micellar soft-crystal phases of a thermo-reversible polyether block copolymer to impart order on synthetic nanoparticles as well as globular proteins. The use of model polymer templates, which undergo temperature induced self-assembly, allows us to systematically evaluate the effects of important design parameters on the structure and mechanical properties of the resulting nanocomposites. The influence of parameters like relative size, relative concentration, temperature and shear are experimentally evaluated using small angle neutron scattering (SANS) and rheology. SANS with contrast variation is used to independently characterize the structure of the polymer soft-crystal template and of the templated particles in a nanocomposite. SANS experiments also demonstrate that shear can be used to align the nanocomposites into crystalline macro-domains. The outcome of this work increases our understanding on the self-organization of soft particles and also serves as a basis to guide the design of new nanocomposite materials. |
