Polymer Brushes: Promises and Challenges

Surface‐tethered polymers, or “polymer brushes”, are emerging as key elements in the context of regulating the surface characteristics of materials. Their properties, such as biocompatibility, antifouling, colloidal stability, wettability, and corrosion resistance, play a vital role in ascertaining...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chemistry, an Asian journal an Asian journal, 2013-08, Vol.8 (8), p.1736-1753
Main Authors: Yameen, Basit, Farrukh, Aleeza
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
biosensors
Chemistry
drug delivery
functional materials
polymer brushes
Polymers
stimuli-responsive materials
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Surface‐tethered polymers, or “polymer brushes”, are emerging as key elements in the context of regulating the surface characteristics of materials. Their properties, such as biocompatibility, antifouling, colloidal stability, wettability, and corrosion resistance, play a vital role in ascertaining their potential applications. The availability of straightforward procedures for polymer brush synthesis, which are applicable to a wide range of monomers and are adaptable to a range of substrates, is a clear advantage over other surface‐modification strategies. Herein, the important advancements that are pertinent to the fabrication of polymer brushes are outlined. Furthermore, an exhaustive up‐to‐date overview of the developments in different application domains, including smart drug‐delivery systems, biosensing, antifouling, stimuli‐responsive surfaces, and ion‐conducting membranes, that benefit from the developments in the field of polymer brushes, is presented. Bedknobs and broomsticks: This Focus Review discusses the current status in the development of synthetic procedures, recently explored substrates, innovative applications, and the accompanying challenges of surface‐grafted macromolecular assemblies.
ISSN:1861-4728
1861-471X
DOI:10.1002/asia.201300149