Brush structures directly anchored to ion beam treated polymer surfaces without linker

TL;DR

This study demonstrates a novel method for directly attaching polymer brush structures to ion beam treated polymer surfaces without linker molecules, using carbonized coatings as active substrates for medical and electronic applications.

Contribution

It introduces a new linker-free technique for attaching diverse polymer brushes to carbonized polymer surfaces via ion beam treatment, expanding potential applications.

Findings

Successful fabrication of carbonized active substrates from ion beam implanted polystyrene.

Effective attachment of various polymer brushes through free radical reactions.

Swollen brushes exhibit temperature-dependent phase transition behavior.

Abstract

A brush structure is an interesting object for future applications in medical and electronic devices. Usual substrate for the brushes is silicon wafer with linker molecules. In present study an ion beam treatment of polymer was used for attachment of brush structures without liker molecules. The goal of the study was a fabrication of carbonized active substrate and a direct attachment of different brush molecules. The carbonised coating on silicon wafer has been prepared from ion beam implanted polystyrene coating and characterised with AFM, XPS, ESR, Raman, FTIR and ellipsometry measurements. The brush structures based on polystyrene and polyacrylamide backbone with thiol, amine and carboxyl end groups have been synthesised on the carbonised substrates. The brush structures have been characterised with ellipsometry, XPS, FTIR and AFM. The swollen brush shows a thickness phase transition with temperature rise. The attachment of the brush structures is based on free radical reactions on the carbonised surface. The effect of impurity of the brush polymer was found significant. Thus, the brush structures of broad kinds of the end groups can be synthesised on the carbonised substrates without a linker.