Journal Article

PUBDB-2026-01353

http://join2-wiki.gsi.de/foswiki/pub/Main/Artwork/join2_logo100x88.png Emergent Jamming Dynamics of Interfacial Nanoparticles in Polymer Blends Undergoing Phase Separation

Biswas, A.Extern* ; Das, N.Extern* ; Swain, A.Extern* ; Anthuparambil, N. D.Extern* ; Mendez, N. F. ; Kulkarni, S.DESY* ; Keller, T. F.XFEL.EU*DESY* ; Sprung, M.XFEL.EU*DESY* ; Kumar, S. K. ; Basu, J. (Corresponding author)Extern*

2026
Soc. Washington, DC

This record in other databases:  

Please use a persistent id in citations: doi:10.1021/acs.macromol.5c02114  doi:10.3204/PUBDB-2026-01353

Abstract: The interfacial assembly and jamming of nanoparticles(NPs) in phase separating blends is a potentially usefulstrategy for creating nanoporous gels and Pickering emulsions.However, the lack of experimental methods to obtain microscopicinsights into the kinetics of this interfacial NP jamming presentschallenges. We use grazing incidence standing wave X-ray photoncorrelation spectroscopy on a novel bilayer blend geometryembedded with polymer grafted nanoparticles (GNPs) to in situstudy the temporal evolution of GNP interfacial jamming duringbinary polymer blend phase separation. Using two parameters -graft density and volume fraction - of GNPs, their controlledinterfacial assembly and jamming are enabled to induce asystematic arrest of phase separation of lower critical solution temperature (LCST) binary blends of poly(styrene) (PS) andpoly(vinylmethyl ether) (PVME). Using the combination of the novel geometry and depth sensitive, nondestructive technique weprobe for the first time the dynamics of GNPs at the interface with aging time and elucidate the conditions for the emergence ofnanoparticle jamming during the temporal evolution of phase separation. We also identify a time scale for the onset of interfacialnanoparticle jamming, tjam, which correlates with the time scale, tarrest, of arrested blend phase separation. To the best of ourknowledge, this is the first direct experimental report that measures interfacial nanoparticle jamming dynamics and also correlates itwith arrested phase separation kinetics.

---

Contributing Institute(s):

1. DOOR-User (DOOR ; HAS-User)
2. PETRA-S (FS-PETRA-S)
3. Nanolab (FS-NL)

Research Program(s):

1. 632 - Materials – Quantum, Complex and Functional Materials (POF4-632) (POF4-632)
2. 6G3 - PETRA III (DESY) (POF4-6G3) (POF4-6G3)
3. INDIA-DESY - INDIA-DESY Collaboration (2020_Join2-INDIA-DESY) (2020_Join2-INDIA-DESY)

Experiment(s):

1. PETRA Beamline P10 (PETRA III)
2. DESY NanoLab: Microscopy

Appears in the scientific report 2026

---

Database coverage:
; ; Clarivate Analytics Master Journal List ; Current Contents - Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences ; Ebsco Academic Search ; Essential Science Indicators ; IF >= 5 ; JCR ; Nationallizenz ; SCOPUS ; Science Citation Index Expanded ; Web of Science Core Collection

---