Roughness-Mediated SI-FeCRP for Polymer Brush Engineering toward Superior Drag Reduction.

Surface-initiated iron(0)-mediated controlled radical polymerization (SI-FeCRP) with low toxicity and excellent biocompatibility is promising for the fabrication of biofunctional polymer coatings. However, the development of Fe(0)-based catalysts remains limited by the lower dissociation activity of the Fe(0) surface in comparison to Cu(0). Here, we found that, by simply polishing the Fe(0) plate surface with sandpaper, the poly(methacryloyloxy)ethyl trimethylammonium chloride brush growth rate has been increased significantly to 3.

Seawater-Boosting Surface-Initiated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization for Functional Polymer Brush Engineering.

Iron-mediated surface-initiated reversible deactivation radical polymerization (Fe SI-RDRP) is an appealing approach to produce robust polymer surfaces with low toxicity and biocompatibility, while its application has been limited so far due to the poor activity of iron-based catalysts. Herein, we show that the iron(0)-mediated surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (Fe SI-ATRP) could be significantly enhanced by simply using seawater as reaction media. In comparison, there was no polymer brush formation in deionized water.