Buckling Instabilities in Polymer Brush Surfaces via Postpolymerization Modification

Authors

Wei Guo, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Cassandra M. Reese, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Li Xiong, University of Southern Mississippi
Phillip K. Logan, University of Southern Mississippi
Brittany J. Thompson, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Christopher M. Stafford, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Anton V. Ievlev, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Bradley S. Lokitz, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Olga S. Ovchinnikova, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Derek L. Patton, University of Southern MississippiFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-14-2017

Department

Polymers and High Performance Materials

Abstract

We report a simple route to engineer ultrathin polymer brush surfaces with wrinkled morphologies using postpolymerization modification (PPM), where the length scale of the buckled features can be tuned from hundreds of nanometers to one micrometer using PPM reaction time. We show that partial cross-linking of the outer layer of the polymer brush under poor solvent conditions is critical to obtain wrinkled morphologies upon swelling. Characterization of the PPM kinetics and swelling behavior via ellipsometry and the through thickness composition profile via time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (ToF-SIMS) provided key insight into parameters influencing the buckling behavior.

Publication Title

Macromolecules

Volume

50

Issue

21

First Page

8670

Last Page

8677

Recommended Citation

Guo, W., Reese, C. M., Xiong, L., Logan, P. K., Thompson, B. J., Stafford, C. M., Ievlev, A. V., Lokitz, B. S., Ovchinnikova, O. S., Patton, D. L. (2017). Buckling Instabilities in Polymer Brush Surfaces via Postpolymerization Modification. Macromolecules, 50(21), 8670-8677.
Available at: https://aquila.usm.edu/fac_pubs/15970