Spiropyran-based Light-switchable Polymer Films Attached to Solid Surfaces

摘要

If a material has the right bulk properties (e.g. form stability, flexibility etc.) but does not meet the required surface properties, coating of the surface of the material with thin polymer films is an interesting and flexible way to tune the surface properties of the material. Moreover, if such coatings are developed consisting of immobilized polymer molecules that can react to external stimuli (e.g. temperature, light, electric fields etc.) in a fast and reversible manner, by changing their structure (conformation, morphology, etc.), the latter may open an interesting way to "switch" surface-properties, such as wettability, adhesion, adsorption etc. through external triggers.