www.sciencemag.

org/cgi/content/full/311/5768/1740/DC1

Supporting Online Material for

General Strategies for Nanoparticle Dispersion

Michael E. Mackay,* Anish Tuteja, Phillip M. Duxbury, Craig J. Hawker, Brooke Van
Horn, Zhibin Guan, Guanghui Chen, R. S. Krishnan

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mackay@msu.edu

Published 24 March 2006, Science 311, 1740 (2006)

DOI: 10.1126/science.1122225

This PDF file includes:

Materials and Methods

References
 Polyethylene nanoparticles consisting of dendritic polyethylene, with a number-

averaged molecular weight of 225 kDa (polydispersity index of 1.6) as measured by a

Wyatt Technologies multi-angle light scattering detector, were synthesized at 0.1 atm

ethylene pressure using a chain walking palladium catalyst (1). They were then blended

with 393 kDa linear polystyrene in a common solvent, rapidly precipitated in methanol

and dried to ensure complete solvent removal. A maximum polyethylene concentration of

5-10 wt%, relative to polystyrene, was used and the mixture heated to ca. 230°C for up to

24 hrs. to observe phase stability. Differential scanning calorimetry (TA Instruments)

reveals a broad transition at ~ -40°C for pure polyethylene which disappears in the blend.

The blend glass transition temperature (Tg) is slightly affected although not as much as

that seen for a phase separating blend containing 7 wt% tetracontane (n-C40H82) prepared

in the same manner. Here the pure tetracontane melting point is observed at 81°C in the

blend with a ca. 10°C reduction in Tg for polystyrene (94°C) after the third heat cycle.

Conversely, the nanoparticle – polymer blend has a Tg reduction of 1 – 2 °C (2-4). The

fact that dendritic polyethylene is soluble in linear polystyrene while tetracontane is not is

further confirmation of molecular architecture affecting phase stability.

1. Z. Guan, P. Cotts, E. McCord, S. McLain, Science 283, 2059 (1999).

2. M. E. Mackay et al., Nature Materials 2, 762 (2003).
3. F. W. Starr, T. B. Schrøder, S. C. Glotzer, Phys. Rev. 64, 021802 (2001).
4. J. D. McCoy, J. G. Curro, J. Chem. Phys. 116, 9154 (2002).