Terraced and Smooth Gradient Polymer Brushes via a Polymer-Single-Crystal-Assisted-Grafting-To Method.

In this study, we present a bottom-up method to synthesize gradient polymer brushes with predesigned and precisely controlled grafting density gradient and brush pattern. A polymer-single-crystal-assisted-grafting-to (PSCAGT) method was employed where end-functionalized polymers were grown into two-dimensional polymer single crystals. The latter were chemically coupled to a solid substrate to form well-defined polymer brushes. To tune the grafting density, end-dissimilar polymers were used to co-crystallize into one single crystal. Programmed single crystal growth was introduced to synthesize brushes with two different gradient architectures, i.e. terraced and smooth gradient with pyramid patterns. Our work demonstrates that the PSCAGT method offers a unique means to tune polymer brush nanostructure. PMID: 30298634 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Angewandte Chemie - Category: Chemistry Authors: Tags: Angew Chem Int Ed Engl Source Type: research