Facile and Eco-Friendly Synthesis of Stimulus-Responsive Superoleophobic Polymer Brushes

摘要

We have successfully prepared the pH-responsive superoleophobic pDMAEMA brush surfaces showing excellent oil drop mobility and low adhesion underwater. As demonstrated here, our synthesis methods can be facile, low-cost, and applicable to large-scale real-life substrates. Polymerizations can: ⅰ) be performed under mild conditions such as in aqueous solution at ambient temperature, without the need to rigorously purge reaction solutions of oxygen; ⅱ) produce extremely thick brush layers up to ～700 nm thick; ⅲ) use monomer concentrations as low as 1 % v/v; ⅳ) be applied to surfaces in thin layers through a painting method; and ⅴ) be vastly less expensive and use less toxic chemicals than when conventional ATRP is used. Through these practical advantages, we are able to significantly simplify polymer brush preparation, and simultaneously reduce the preparation cost by almost 3-orders of magnitude. The environmental impact of the synthesis is also reduced with a reduction in toxic chemicals by 99.9 %. We hope these advances will help provide a facile and inexpensive route toward the fabrication of commercially-available polymer brushes showing superoleophobic properties underwater.