Precise control over molecular variables of grafted polymer brushes is of crucial importance for obtaining polymer nanocomposites with desirable architectures and physicochemical properties, yet it remains a significant synthetic challenge.
We report on a new, extremely fast, very simple and versatile method to produce polymer brushes by surface-initiated controlled/living radical polymerization.
A method is presented combining poly(dopamine) chemistry and surface-initiated Cu(0)-mediated controlled radical polymerization (SI-CuCRP). Polymer brushes and block copolymer brushes are grafted independent of the original surface properties.