Download or read book Magnetic Nanoparticle Field Directed Self-assembly written by Ryan Michael Schmidt and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Directed self-assembly of nanomaterials via external fields is an attractive processing tool for industry as it is inherently inexpensive and flexible. The self-assembly of magnetic nanoparticles in particular has gained much recent interest for applications ranging from biomedical imaging and targeted cancer therapy to ferrofluid mechanical damping devices, that rely on the state of aggregation and alignment of the nanoparticles. We utilize an oil-water platform to directly observe directed self-assembly of magnetic nanoparticles that are field ordered into two-dimensional mesostructures through the fossilized liquid assembly method. Our system consisted of polymer-coated iron-oxide nanoparticles which were assembled at the interface between a crosslinkable hydrophobic monomer oil, and water through the use of external magnetic fields, and then cured with UV light. In this study, entire magnetic flux field lines in various geometrical configurations were successfully modeled and mapped out by the magnetic nanoparticles, both in-plane and in perpendicular orientations utilizing FLA. As the microscopic behavior of magnetic nanoparticles is known through this first study, further work can then be conducted through the assembly of block copolymer/magnetic nanoparticle nanocomposites. The morphology of neat self-assembled block copolymers have been extensively studied and it has been proven that the molecular weight, volume fraction of the components, and the degree of segment incompatibility are the three independent parameters used to determine equilibrium morphologies. The assembled orientations of lamellar and cylindrical morphologies in particular develop specific directionalities depending on the natural interactions of the blocks with the substrate and surface. It has been shown that treatments such as UV-Ozone treatment of the substrate, mechanical shear, or electrical fields can force this directionality to be altered, however few methods have been developed to readily alter preferential morphologies through the use of magnetic fields. In order to provide preliminary results toward the validity of a magnetically driven reorientation process, systems of polystyrene-b-poly(methylmethacrylate) with varying molecular weights were loaded with up to 1% polystyrene coated cobalt nanoparticles. This study successfully showed that the particles can be loaded into the block copolymers without disrupting the morphology of the block copolymers, and also provided initial results that this method is plausible.