The simulation of polystyrene/nanoparticles composite microspheres using dissipative particle dynamics

Dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) was initially used to simulate the polystyrene/nanoparticle composite microspheres (PNCM) in this paper. The coarse graining model of PNCM was established. And the DPD parameterization of the model was represented in detail. The DPD repulsion parameters were calculated from the cohesive energy density which could be calculated by amorphous modules in Materials Studio. The equilibrium configuration of the simulated PNCM shows that the nanoparticles were actually "modified" with oleic acid and the modified nanoparticles were embedded in the bulk of polystyrene. As sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was located in the interface between water and polystyrene, the hydrophilic head of SDS stretched into water while the hydrophobic tailed into polystyrene. All simulated phenomena were consistent with the experimental results in preparation of polystyrene/nanoparticles composite microspheres. The effect of surface modification of nanoparticles on its dispersion in polystyrene matrix was also studied by adjusting the interaction parameters between the OA and NP beads. The final results indicated that the nanoparticles removed from the core of composite microsphere to the surface with increase of a_OA-NP. All the simulated results demonstrated that our coarse-grained model was reasonable.