Surfaces with switchable properties, such as adhesion, wetting, and optical properties, have generated interest in the field of smart materials for their potential applications in tissue engineering, cell culture, biomimetics, sensors, coatings, and textiles.  Surfaces with covalently attached polymeric brushes have been extensively studied for these applications due to the ability to finely tune properties by varying molecular weight, grafting density and chemical composition, but these materials are often static and lack the ability to react to changes in their environment. Physically dynamic substrates, such as PDMS, have been utilized to study brush polymers, but the suitability of these materials are ultimately limited by the inability to externally trigger a change in surface properties. Alternatively, using shape memory elastomers presents a unique opportunity to fabricate surfaces with switchable properties; a physical shape change can be predetermined and programmed, allowing brushes to be grafted from the surface while the material is in a secondary shape.  The primary shape is recovered by the application of an external stimulus, such as heat, triggering a change in the brush density and conformation, and thus the surface characteristics of the material. Herein, we report the synthesis of poly(oligio(ethylene glycol) methacrylate) comb-like brushes from an elastomeric shape memory substrate, poly(octalene adipate-co--octalene diazoadipate), that has been functionalized with a ATRP initiator via �click� chemistry.  This chemically functional and physically dynamic substrate was �grafted from� utilizing aqueous ARGET ATRP, and alterations in the surface properties of contact angle and adhesion were observed upon the triggered shape change.

Grafting from shape memory substrates: Physically dynamic materials resulting in chemically switchable surfaces

248th National Meeting (2014)

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