The influence of crosslinkers and magnetic particle distribution along the filament backbone on the magnetic properties of supracolloidal linear polymer-like chains

TL;DR

This study uses Langevin dynamics simulations to explore how different crosslinking methods and magnetic particle arrangements affect the magnetic response of supracolloidal polymer-like chains, revealing that decoupling dipole rotation reduces magnetic influence.

Contribution

It provides new insights into how crosslinking types and magnetic particle distribution influence the magnetic behavior of supracolloidal polymers.

Findings

Decoupling dipole rotation from the backbone diminishes magnetic response.

Crosslinking type significantly affects magnetic properties.

Magnetic particle distribution alters the filament's response to magnetic fields.

Abstract

Diverse polymer crosslinking techniques allow the synthesis of linear polymer-like structures whose monomers are colloidal particles. In the case where all or part of these colloidal particles are magnetic, one can control the behaviour of these supracolloidal polymers, known as magnetic filaments (MFs), by applied magnetic fields. However, the response of MFs strongly depends on the crosslinking procedure. In the present study, we employ Langevin dynamics simulations to investigate the influence of the type of crosslinking and the distribution of magnetic particles within MFs on their response to an external magnetic field. We found that if the rotation of the dipole moment of particles is not coupled to the backbone of the filament, the impact of the magnetic content is strongly decreased.