Flexible particle array structures by controlling polymer graft architecture.

Surface-initiated atom-transfer radical polymerization is used to synthesize particle brushes with controlled fraction of extended and relaxed conformations of surface-grafted chains. In the semidilute brush limit, the grafting of polymeric ligands is shown to facilitate the formation of ordered yet plastic-compliant particle array structures in which chain entanglements give rise to fracture through a polymer-like crazing process that dramatically increases the toughness and flexibility of the particle assembly.