Chapter 12: Polymer Brushes with Chemical Responses
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Published:08 Jul 2022
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Special Collection: 2022 ebook collection
E. Chu and A. Sidorenko, in Chemoresponsive Materials
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Polymer brushes (PB) are a unique platform that enables functional dimensionality through responsive behaviour when exposed to selective stimuli while offering outstanding mechanical stability. The densely grafted polymer chains may respond to chemical and physical stimuli in various ways: reversible or permanent response, locking, and triggered release. This chapter focuses on interactions between active moieties of PB with neutral species, ions (including protons), and electrons that result in chemical transformations of the PB leading to macroscopic changes. The alterations in morphology, swelling, wettability, electrical resistivity, adhesion, and bio-adhesion are examples of such responses that make PB an extremely important element of nanotechnology.