Abstract
Surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) was used to graft poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) brush layers with a controllable thickness in the 10-nm range from silicon substrates. The rate of polymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide was tuned by the [Cu(II)]0/[Cu(I)]0 ratio between the deactivating and activating species. The polymer layer thickness was characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and ellipsometry. PNIPAM layers with a dry thickness between 5.5 and 16 nm were obtained. Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) confirmed that the chemical structure is PNIPAM brushes. Analysis of the AFM data showed that our procedure leads to polymer grafts in the "mushroom-to-brush" transition regime.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 806-813 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Polymers for advanced technologies |
Volume | 29 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Feb 2018 |
Keywords
- 2019 OA procedure
- Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)
- Polymer brushes
- Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS)
- Atom transfer radical polymerization