posted on 2024-02-27, 18:55authored byDeborah Schmitt, Alexander Schiesser, Markus Gallei
The controlled design of surfaces through functionalization
enables
a tailored design of material properties. Especially stimuli-responsive
polymers are of significant interest in preparing so-called “smart
surfaces”. The living anionic polymerization offers the possibility
of modifying surfaces through a grafting-from or grafting-to strategy.
This study applied both synthesis strategies to functionalize porous
polystyrene-based microparticles with the redox-responsive poly(vinyl
ferrocene). The living character of the polymerization enabled the
preparation of polymers with various chain lengths, and the application
of both grafting strategies led to particles of different hydrophilicity.
The synthesis and resulting particles were investigated and characterized
by infrared spectroscopy, size-exclusion chromatography, scanning
electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric
analyses. The influence of the molecular polymer brush structure with
different chain lengths and hydrophilicity on the electrochemical
addressability of the functionalized polystyrene particles was demonstrated
by cyclic voltammetry measurements. The results of this study revealed
fundamental characteristics of surface-immobilized ferrocene polymers,
which are of interest for the design of electrochemically responsive
materials for sensing and (selective) separation applications.