(317f) Optimizing Polymer Bridging in Colloidal Suspensions

Adding end-functionalized polymers to an emulsion produces hierarchical structures that percolate the material, significantly augmenting the material’s elasticity and introducing a finite yield stress. The properties of these polymer-linked suspensions strongly depend on the ability of polymers to bridge between droplets. For linear polymers, the bridging density is controlled by entropy. Here, we demonstrate that this entropic limit can be overcome by stiff polymers in which the telechelic endblocks are spatially separated by the end-to-end distance of the polymer backbone. These stiff polymers are synthesized through standard ROMP approaches and lead to enhanced emulsion elasticity at low additive concentrations. These findings provide insight into the performance of rheological additives and opens the door to the development of novel inks for additive manufacturing.