Midblock rigidity controls bridging fraction in polymer-linked emulsions

Emulsions linked by telechelic polymer are an underexplored class of soft materials, with potential applications ranging from biomimetic soft materials to inks for additive manufacturing. When added to an emulsion, chains of the telechelic polymer will either bridge between droplets or loop on individual droplets, with the total number of bridging chains in the system determining the network elasticity. Simulations have previously demonstrated that the bridging fraction of Gaussian chains has a finite limit of approximately one third due to entropic effects. In this work, we seek to overcome this limitation by introducing telechelic, triblock copolymers containing bottlebrush midblocks which have a high persistence length, making looping conformations less energetically favorable. By using polymeric linkers with greater bridging efficacy, we generate linked emulsions with higher moduli using less polymer additive.