Structural Determination of High Density, ATRP Grown Polystyrene Brushes by Neutron Reflectivity

The development of well-controlled synthetic schemes for growing polymer brushes directly from surfaces has recently enabled very high polymer grafting densities to be explored. Here, we report on the structure of polystyrene brushes as a function of molecular weight. The brushes were prepared by at...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Macromolecules Vol. 42; no. 24; pp. 9523 - 9527
Main Authors:	Ell, John R, Mulder, Dennis E, Faller, Roland, Patten, Timothy E, Kuhl, Tonya L
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Washington, DC American Chemical Society 22-12-2009
Subjects:	Applied sciences Exact sciences and technology Organic polymers Physicochemistry of polymers Properties and characterization Surface properties Interface structure Monodispersed polymer Liquid solid interface Surface reaction Investigation method Atom transfer polymerization Polymer brush Styrene polymer Silicon Experimental study Quartz Neutron reflection
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Summary:	The development of well-controlled synthetic schemes for growing polymer brushes directly from surfaces has recently enabled very high polymer grafting densities to be explored. Here, we report on the structure of polystyrene brushes as a function of molecular weight. The brushes were prepared by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) at a high grafting density of 0.44 chains/nm2. The dry film thickness scaled linearly with chain molecular weight. Under good solvent conditions, strongly stretched brushes of moderate molecular weight were found to maintain a parabolic density distribution consistent with theoretical predictions. Anomalous behavior was observed for higher molecular weights, suggesting that entanglements are much more pronounced in “grafted from” systems.
ISSN:	0024-9297 1520-5835
DOI:	10.1021/ma901239d