Surface-induced First Order Transition in Athermal Polymer/Nanoparticle Blends

Abstract

We investigate the phase behavior of athermal polymer/nanoparticle blends near a hard substrate. We apply the density functional theory of Tripathi and Chapman to these blends. We find a first order phase transition where the nanoparticles expel the polymer from the surface to form a monolayer. The transition density depends on the polymer length and the system bulk density. The effect is due to the packing entropy of the species and configurational entropy of the polymer. The simplicity of the system allows us to understand the so-called ``entropic-push'' observed in experiments.