Ordering of block copolymer stabilized nanoparticles on curved interfaces: A Brownian dynamics study

Brownian dynamics simulations were carried out on a block-copolymer stabilized nanoparticle in the presence of a curved oil-water interface. The purpose of those simulations was to investigate the effect of block copolymer length and grafting density on the order parameter, the contact angle and density distribution of the block copolymer across the oil water interface. We find that the increase of length of the block copolymer results in higher order parameter values and changes in contact angle values when compared to results with smaller block copolymer length. Increase in grafting density resulted in very small changes in order parameter and in contact angle. Thus the contact angle of the nanoparticle is more sensitive to polymer length than to polymer grafting density.