Dynamic light scattering determination of hydrodynamic radius and mutual diffusion coefficient of polymer-modified nanoparticles with varying degrees of grafting density

This dataset contains estimates made by the Savin Group of the mutual diffusion coefficient and hydrodynamic radius of polymer-modified silica nanoparticles determined via light scattering characteristics. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis measured the fluctuations in the scattering intensity of the samples, analyzed by the intensity autocorrelation function. The slope of the plot of the decay rate of the autocorrelation function versus the square of the scalar magnitude of the scattering vector yields the mutual diffusion coefficient. The estimate of the diffusion is then used to calculate the hydrodynamic size using the Stokes-Einstein relation. Measurements were made on bare silica nanoparticles (bare NP), silica nanoparticles modified by poly(caprolactone) (PCL), and silica nanoparticles modified by poly(caprolactone) and hyper-branched poly(glycidol) (HPG or HBPG). Each type of nanoparticle was characterized under conditions of low, medium, and high grafting density.