Thermoresponsive materials polymer brushes

There is a host of other intriguing phenomena associated with the structure and dynamics of stars, which we only list here. The inhomogeneous monomer density distribution in Fig. 2 is responsible for temperature and/or solvency variation in analogy to polymer brushes attached on a flat solid surface [198]. In fact, multiarm star solutions display a reversible thermoresponsive vitrification (see also Sect. 5) which, in contrast to polymer solutions, occurs upon heating rather than on cooling [199]. Another effect is the organization of multiarm stars in filaments induced by weak laser light due to action of electrostrictive forces [200]. This effect was recently attributed [201] to local concentration fluctuations which provide localized-intensity dependent refractive index variations. Hence, the structure factor speciflc to the particular material plays a crucial role in the pattern formation. 

Jones, D. M., Smith, R. R., Huck, W. T. S., and Alexander, C. 2002. Variable adhesion of micropattemed thermoresponsive polymer brushes AFM investigations of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) brushes prepared by surface-initiated polymerizations. Advanced Materials 14 1130-34. 

SI-IMP has been used for synthesis of different types of stimuli-responsive polymer brushes that are responsive to several external stimuli, such as pFI, temperature, and ionic strength [28,58-65]. Because materials interact with their surroundings via their interfaces, the ability to fashion soft interfacial layers and tune the range, extent, and type of physicochemical interactions across interfaces is central to a variety of applications. Rahane et al. carried out sequential SI-IMP of two monomers to create bilevel poly(methacrylic acid)-Woc/c-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PMAA-b-PNIPAM) block copolymer brushes that can respond to multiple stimuli [28]. They observed that each strata in the bilevel PMAA-b-PNIPAM brush retained its customary responsive characteristics PMAA being a "weak" polyelectrolyte swells as pH is increased and the thermoresponsive PNIPAM block collapses as temperature is raised through the volume phase transition temperature due to its lower critical solution temperature (LCST) behavior. As a result of ions added to make buffer solutions of various pH and because of the effect of surface confinement, the swollen-collapse transition of the PNIPAM layer occurs at a... 

Temperature variations may result in reversible changes in properties such as structural arrangement, size, solubihty, and shape. Many materials designed for biomedical or biotechnology appHcations are confined to a narrow temperature spectrum in order to be effective in a physiological environment. The following thermoresponsive materials are discussed in the next section poly(N-iso-propylacrylamide (PNIPAAm), polymer brushes, and shape-memory polymers. 

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