Polymers

Surface-Initiated Polymerization of Polythiophenes

Polythiophene nanopillars formed on Si(111), surrounded by a matrix monolayer of octadecyltrichlorosiloxane. [Hwang, E.; Lusker, K. L.; Garno, J. C.; Losovyj, Y.; Nesterov, E. Semiconducting polymer thin films by surface-confined stepwise click polymerization. Chemistry Communications, 2011, 47, 11990-11992]

Self-Polymerization of Chloromethylphenylsilane (CMPS)

The surface self-assembly of chloromethylphenylsilane was investigated within confined areas of OTS. Topography images reveal the nanoholes inside a film of OTS before (left) and after reaction with CMPS (right). [Tian, T.; LeJeune, Z. M.; Garno, J. C. Directed surface assembly of 4-(chloromethyl)- phenyltrichlorosilane: Self-polymerization within spatially-confined sites of Si(111) viewed by atomic force microscopy. Langmuir, 2013, 29, 6529−6536.]

Growth of Polymer Nanorods using Surface-Initiated Ring-Opening Polymerization

Polymer nanostructures of poly(N-allyl glycine) on Si(111) were prepared by stepwise chemistry using particle lithography. In the first step, isolated nanopores were prepared within a thin film of octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) (left images). An initiator, (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) was grown selectively inside the nanopores presenting amine functional groups to define sites for polymerization (center). Surface-initiated ring-opening polymerization of N-allyl N-carboxyanhydride with APTES produced polymer nanopillars on the nanodots of APTES (right). The surface changes for each step were monitored using high resolution AFM,  the cursor profiles show the increases in height at each successive step.

[Lu, L.; Lahasky, S.; Zhang, D.; Garno, J. C. Directed Growth of Polymer Nanorods using Surface-Initiated Ring-Opening Polymerization of N-Allyl N-Carboxyanhydride, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2016, 8, 4014–4022.]