Surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) has become an indispensable tool for engineering the structure and properties of polymer/inorganic and polymer/organic interfaces. This presentation will review the progress and challenges that are associated with the application of SI-ATRP to precisely control the molecular characteristics of polymer chains tethered to nanoparticle surfaces as well as the opportunities that are afforded by controlling the architecture of polymer-grafted particles to engineer the properties of novel functional hybrid materials. Of central importance is the concept of chemcial confinement in tethered polymer systems. In particular, tethering of polymers imparts contraints on the static and dynamic properties of polymer chains that expand the range of accessible properties in polymer-based materials. Even for the conceptually most 'simple' particle brush systems � that is spherical particles uniformly grafted with amorphous non-polar polymers � the complex superposition of interactions as well as time- and length-scales related to particle core and tethered chains will be shown provides a rich and largely unexplored parameter space for the design of novel functional materials (see Figure 1) . The application of SI-ATRP to the development of materials for applications ranging from photonic inks and paints to advanced high 'k' dielectrics for energy storage and advanced nanocomposite materials with improved optical, mechanical or thermal transport characteristics is discussed.

Applications of surface-initiated controlled radical polymerization: From engineered colloidal systems to advanced nanocomposite materials

248th National Meeting (2014)

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