The study of relationships between, and the forces which drive, order and disorder in materials across length scales has been an active topic of research in materials science and finds roots in many natural structures. In addition to ordered structures, exotic disordered states such as those exhibited in hyperuniform materials are also of recent interest. Hyperuniformity, which is defined by local disorder with highly suppressed long range density fluctuations, has been found natural systems such as the microscopic structure of avian eyes. These structures have evolved in contrast to insect eyes which have a more crystal-like packing. In our own work in the field of composite materials, the addition of nanoparticles into a polymer matrix is known to improve mechanical properties and can add multifunctionality with the addition of plasmon active gold nanoparticles, for example. The choice of polymer chemistry and nanoparticles offer a straightforward approach to alter the properties of the nanocomposite; however, the particle packing is another important parameter that can be altered to improve or control material properties. With their negligible density fluctuations at long length scales, hyperuniform packing structures exhibit efficient blocking or transmission of electromagnetic and/or mechanical waves. Here we demonstrate the fabrication of hyperuniform polymer grafted nanoparticle thin films using additive techniques and characterize their resulting mechanical properties. The degree of hyperuniformity is then correlated to the mechanical properties of the composite determined by Brillouin light scattering and crazing experiments on lattice supports. At fixed polymer molecular weight we find that a bimodal distribution of gold nanoparticle diameters could be used to influence the strength of hyperuniformity. The concepts developed here are expected to influence the design of future air and space components and structures.

Nature inspired structure: Hyperuniformity in polymer-grafted nanoparticle assemblies

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