From surface coatings to polymer nanofilms: lifting off polymer brushes†
Christian Ohm,Christopher K. Ober
RSC Advances Pub Date : 07/17/2013 00:00:00 , DOI:10.1039/C3RA42290A
Abstract

In this contribution we introduce a technique for the fabrication of a new kind of organic nanofilm from polymer brushes. For this, we grew poly(styrene) brushes on a thin film of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). The resulting graft polymer film was patterned into square-shaped sections using photolithographic techniques. Afterwards the PVA layer was dissolved in water, thus lifting off the extremely thin layer of brush material. We obtained dimensionally stable, square shaped objects with a thickness in the nanometer size region, dispersed in water. When dried on a substrate, these nanofilms showed a unique folding behavior.

Graphical abstract: From surface coatings to polymer nanofilms: lifting off polymer brushes