Polymer brushes are polymers tethered to a surface or interface by one end, which, at the appropriate conditions, show a stretched conformation away from the surface. Due to their responsive behaviour, they have many potential applications, so understanding their behaviour in the presence of nanoparticles has a great technological interest and, in order to efficiently design new materials or devices, the role of all relevant parameters must be well understood [1].
To isolate the contribution of the geometric factors, such as particle size, brush grafting density or length, non-steric interactions should be removed. However, a strong attractive interaction facilitates incorporation within the brush of the particles in solution in the synthesis phase. This dicotomy can be solved by using a responsive particle capping [2]. Electrostatic interaction between the nanoparticles and the brush can be strengthened during synthesis, to facilitate incorporation of the particles, and decreased afterwards while carrying out the characterisation, to minimize this interaction and better determine the effect of the geometric factors on the composite behaviour.
[1] B. Zhao, and W. J. Brittain; Prog. Polym. Sci. 25, 677 (2000).
[2] M. Chanana, M. A. Correa-Duarte, and L. M. Liz-Marzán; Small 7(18), 2650 (2011).
