Swelling and Degrafting of Poly(3-sulfopropyl methacrylate) Brushes.

Upon exposure to a good solvent, polymer brushes prepared via surface-initiated polymerization can undergo degrafting via cleavage of bonds that anchor the polymer tethers to the underlying substrate. As polymer brushes are often used in a solvent swollen state, this has implications for the longevity of these polymer coatings. Improving the fundamental understanding of this process is thus also of practical importance.

Pyroelectric Polyelectrolyte Brushes.

Piezo- and pyroelectric materials are of interest, for example, for energy harvesting applications, for the development of tactile sensors, as well as neuromorphic computing. This study reports the observation of pyro- and piezoelectricity in thin surface-attached polymer brushes containing zwitterionic and electrolytic side groups that are prepared via surface-initiated polymerization. The pyro- and piezoelectric properties of the surface-grafted polyelectrolyte brushes are found to sensitively depend on and can be tuned by variation of the counterion.

Swelling-Activated, Soft Mechanochemistry in Polymer Materials.

Swelling in polymer materials is a ubiquitous phenomenon. At a molecular level, swelling is dictated by solvent-polymer interactions, and has been thoroughly studied both theoretically and experimentally. Favorable solvent-polymer interactions result in the solvation of polymer chains.