Search results for "Polymer brush"

Functionalization and patterning of reactive polymer brushes based on surface reversible addition and fragmentation chain transfer polymerization

2012

We present the synthesis of reactive polymer brushes prepared by surface reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer polymerization of pentafluorophenyl acrylate. The reactive ester moieties can be used to functionalize the polymer brush film with virtually any functionality by simple post-polymerization modification with amines. Dithiobenzoic acid benzyl-(4-ethyltrimethoxylsilyl) ester was used as the surface chain transfer agent (S-CTA) and the anchoring group onto the silicon substrates. Reactive polymer brushes with adjustable molecular weight, high grafting density, and conformal coverage through the grafting-from approach were obtained. Subsequently, the reactive polymer brushes …

Spherical and rod-like colloids with polymer-brush surfaces

2008

In this paper, we describe a strategy to overcome incompatibility of colloidal particles and polymer coils as well as immiscibility of spherical and rod-shaped nanoparticles. Two new types of model colloids are presented, colloidal nanospheres with hairy surfaces (spherical brushes) and polymacromonomers to represent cylindrical brushes. The spherical brushes are synthesized from polyorganosiloxane-μ-gels of diameter 20 nm by grafting onto anionically prepared polystyrene macromonomers of molecular weight M w=5000 g/mol. On average, each sphere has a surface layer of 200 polymer chains. Compatibility of spherical nanoparticles with polymer coils was probed by turbidity of as-cast films as w…

Polymer Brushes on Flat and Curved Substrates: What Can be Learned from Molecular Dynamics Simulations

2017

Capillary Rise in Nanotubes Coated with Polymer Brushes

2009

The spontaneous rise of a fluid in a brush-coated nanocapillary is studied by molecular dynamics simulation of a coarse-grained model. The cases of changing wettability of both the capillary walls and the brush were examined. We also investigated the impact of polymer chain length on the transport of fluid along the nanotube. We found that capillary filling takes place in both lyophilic and lyophobic tubes, provided that the polymer brush coating is wetted by the fluid. In all the cases studied, capillary rise proceeds by a time-square law, but the mechanisms behind them (Lucas-Washburn or diffusive propagation) differ, depending on the chain length N. For a wettable wall, the speed of flui…

One- and two-component bottle-brush polymers: simulations compared to theoretical predictions

2007

Scaling predictions and results from self-consistent field calculations for bottle-brush polymers with a rigid backbone and flexible side chains under good solvent conditions are summarized and their validity and applicability is assessed by a comparison with Monte Carlo simulations of a simple lattice model. It is shown that under typical conditions, as they are also present in experiments, only a rather weak stretching of the side chains is realized, and then the scaling predictions based on the extension of the Daoud-Cotton blob picture are not applicable. Also two-component bottle brush polymers are considered, where two types (A,B) of side chains are grafted, assuming that monomers of …

Selfdiffusion of polymer chains in solutions and melts

2005

Anomalous diffusion of monomers of polymer chains, as well as motion of these chains as a whole, is discussed with an emphasis on Monte Carlo simulations and simple scaling concepts. While the behavior of isolated chains in good solvents or Theta-solvents without excluded volume interactions is fully accounted for by the Rouse model, the behavior is less clear both for isolated chains in bad solvents and for chains in dense melts. Collapsed chains are shown to diffuse as g3(t) = <([rCM (t) -rCM(0)]2〉 ∝ tξ3 where the (effective?) exponent ξ3 simply seems to be linearly temperature-dependent for temperatures T lower than the Σ-temperature, ξ3 T/Θ. A relaxation time τ oc N3 is found, and scali…

Interactions between polymer brush-coated spherical nanoparticles: the good solvent case.

2011

The interaction between two spherical polymer brushes is studied by molecular dynamics simulation varying both the radius of the spherical particles and their distance, as well as the grafting density and the chain length of the end-grafted flexible polymer chains. A coarse-grained bead-spring model is used to describe the macromolecules, and purely repulsive monomer-monomer interactions are taken throughout, restricting the study to the good solvent limit. Both the potential of mean force between the particles as a function of their distance is computed, for various choices of the parameters mentioned above, and the structural characteristics are discussed (density profiles, average end-to…

Adsorption of Oligomers and Polymers into a Polymer Brush Formed from Grafted Ring Polymers

2013

The interaction of a ring polymer brush with a solution containing oligomers or free linear flexible macromolecules is studied by Monte Carlo simulation, varying the chain length of the free chains, and in selected cases also the lengths of the rings. Two grafting densities are studied, corresponding to semidilute and very concentrated conditions, and a comparison with the corresponding case of brushes formed from grafted linear chains is made. Although the ring polymer linear dimensions in the brushes show an anomalous scaling with ring length, similar to (noncatenated) ring polymer melts, the concentration profiles of oligomers and long macromolecules in ring polymer brushes differ only v…

Interaction Between Polymer Brush-Coated Spherical Nanoparticles: Effect of Solvent Quality

2012

The interaction between two spherical polymer brushes in solvents of variable quality is studied by molecular dynamics simulation and by self-consistent field theory, varying both the radius of the spherical particles and their distance, as well as the grafting density and the chain length of the end-grafted flexible polymer chains. Both the potential of mean force between the particles as a function of their distance is computed, for various choices of the parameters mentioned above, and the structural characteristics are discussed (density profiles, average end-to-end distance of grafted chains, etc.) It is found that for rather short chain lengths and not too large grafting densities, is…

Unconventional ordering behavior of semi-flexible polymers in dense brushes under compression

2014

Using a coarse-grained bead-spring model for semi-flexible macromolecules which form a polymer brush, the structure and dynamics of the polymers were investigated, varying the chain stiffness and the grafting density. The anchoring conditions for the grafted chains were chosen such that their first bonds were oriented along the normal to the substrate plane. The compression of such a semi-flexible brush by a planar piston was observed to be a two-stage process: for a small compression the chains were shown to contract by "buckling" deformation whereas for a larger compression the chains exhibited a collective (almost uniform) bending deformation. Thus, the stiff polymer brush underwent a 2n…