PEG Brushes on Porous, PDMS-Coated Surfaces and Their Interaction with Carbon Dioxide

Gesine Gunkel-Grabole, Anja Car, Vikrant V. Naik, Laurent Marot, Gregor Ferk, Cornelia Palivan, Wolfgang Meier

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

A porous polymeric substrate covered with a thin polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) coating is used for the surface-initiated polymerization of polyethylene glycol (PEG)-based polymer brushes. Successful synthesis of the brushes is evidenced by several methods and their impact on the characteristics of the polymeric multilayer substrate is studied. Investigation into the behavior of PEG-based brushes using atomic force microscopy and multiple transmission-reflection infrared (MTR-FTIR) spectroscopy reveals conformational changes of the brush chains upon exposure to carbon dioxide. The results presented here highlight an elegant way to covalently modify porous, PDMS-coated substrates with polymer brushes to alter their characteristics. Polymer brushes are synthesized via surface-initiated polymerization on polydimethylsiloxane coated, porous polymeric membranes. The polymerization reaction and the impact on the membrane's overall properties are studied in detail. Furthermore, the interaction between the PEG brushes and carbon dioxide is elucidated and reveals interesting insights, which underline the potential of polymer brushes to modify membrane characteristics.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)966-973
Number of pages8
JournalMacromolecular Chemistry and Physics
Volume217
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 10 2016
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2022-06-01
Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank Liselotte Siegfried and Ewald Schonhofer of the Inorganic Chemistry Department at University of Basel for performing TGA measurements and Marcus Waser of the Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz for allowing usage of their contact angle equipment. Polyacrylonitrile membranes were kindly provided by Prof. Klaus-Viktor Peinemann (KAUST, Saudi Arabia). The authors are grateful to Daniel Mathys of the Center for Microscopy of the University of Basel for SEM measurements. This publication was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation as part of the NCCR Molecular Systems Engineering. Further, the Swiss Nanoscience Institute (Nanoprotect) is acknowledged and G.G.-G. would like to thank the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for a postdoctoral research fellowship.
This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Materials Chemistry
  • Organic Chemistry
  • Polymers and Plastics
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
  • Condensed Matter Physics

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