Supercooled melt structure and dynamics of single-chain nanoparticles: A computer simulation study

By using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations, we have investigated the structure and dynamics of supercooled single-chain cross-linked nanoparticle (SCNP) melts having a range of cross-linking degrees phi. We find a nearly linear increase in glass-transition temperature (T-g) with increasing phi. Correspondingly, we have also experimentally synthesized a series of polystyrene-based SCNPs and have found that the measured T-g estimated from differential scanning calorimetry is qualitatively consistent with the trend predicted by our simulation estimates. Experimentally, an increase in T-g as large as Delta T-g = 61 K for phi = 0.36 is found compared with their linear chain counterparts, indicating that the changes in dynamics with cross-links are quite appreciable. We attribute the increase in T-g to the enlarged effective hard-core volume and the corresponding reduction in the free volume of the polymer segments. Topological constraints evidently frustrate the local packing. In addition, the introduction of intra-molecular cross-linking bonds slows down the structural relaxation and simultaneously enhances the local coupling motion on the length scales within SCNPs. Consequently, a more pronounced dynamical heterogeneity (DH) is observed for larger phi, as quantified by measuring the dynamical correlation length through the four-point susceptibility parameter, chi(4). The increase in DH is directly related to the enhanced local cooperative motion derived from intra-molecular cross-linking bonds and structural heterogeneity derived from the cross-linking process. These results shed new light on the influence of intra-molecular topological constraints on the segmental dynamics of polymer melts.