Polymer brushes are a common feature in many biological surfaces. The ability to rapidly transform a substrate from a hard, structural material to a soft, hydrogel structure over the course of a few tens of nanometers makes polymer brushes elegant materials for tailoring the biology-materials interface. Polymer brushes, because of their surface confinement, are typically stretched from the surface when compared to identical unattached polymer segments and confinement provides them with useful barrier properties. This presentation will discuss recent studies of surface grown polymer brushes, the use of charged brushes for interaction with biological systems both in terms of directing cell growth and their use for support of cell membrane mimics. In particular, polyelectrolyte brushes and effects of charge on surface properties, so-called “entropic death” and brush viability will be discussed.

Polymer brushes: Surface transformation in less than 100 nm

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.