Topic details
| Topic | Study of surface parameters and responsive behavior of different non-fouling polymer brush systems |
|---|---|
| Supervisor | Ognen Pop-Georgievski, Ph.D. |
| Department | Chemistry and Physics of Surfaces and Biointerfaces |
| Description | Polymer brushes have been performed by either “grafting to-“ or “grafting from-“ modification routes. The “grafting from-“ route often relies on surface initiated (SI) polymerizations such as atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), reversible addition fragmentation transfer (RAFT) and single electron transfer living radical polymerization (SET-LRP). These surface confined polymer architectures capable to suppress the fouling from complex biological media, often termed as non-fouling, have been widely used in different biomedical and tissue engineering applications. Though praised for their unmatched performance, there is still a lack in understanding of the physico-chemical origins of their high resistance to fouling. The main objective of the thesis is to develop methods for the determination of the surface parameters of different non-fouling polymer layers such as thickness, molecular weight, polymer chain length, molecular weight, packing and grafting density, interfacial structure, conformation, etc. Moreover, a specific stress will be set on probing the overall chain conformation of the polymer brushes and the structure of water in their hydration shell in presence of external stimuli, such as temperature, presence of ions, etc. Spectroscopic methods, such as spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (IRRAS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and size exclusion chromatography etc., will be used to determine the surface related parameters of the different polymer brushes. Time resolved attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), vibrational sum-frequency generation spectroscopy (VSFG), SE-quartz crystal microbalance (QCMD), surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectroscopy and contact angle goniometry titrations will be used for the determination of the polymer brushes responsive behavior. " |
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