摘要
Surface initiated polymerization (SIP) is a valuable tool in synthesizing functional polymer brushes,yet the kinetic understanding of SIP lags behind the development of its application. We apply quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) to address two issues that are not fully addressed yet play a central role in the rational design of functional polymer brushes,namely quantitative determination of the kinetics and the initiator efficiency (IE) of SIP. SIP are monitored online using QCM. Two quantitative frequencythickness (f-T) relations make the direct determination and comparison of the rate of polymerization possible even for different monomers. Based on the bi-termination model,the kinetics of SIP is simply described by two variables,which are related to two polymerization constants,namely a = 1/(kp,s,app-[M][R·]0) and b = kt,s,app/(kp,s,app[M]). Factors that could alter the kinetics of SIP are studied,including (i) the molecular weight of monomers,(ii) the solvent used,(iii) the initial density of the initiator,(iv) the concentration of monomer,[M],and (v) the catalyst system (ratio among the ingredients,metal,ligands,and additives). The dynamic nature of IE is also described by these two variables,IE = a/(a + bt). Instead of the molecular weight and the polydispersity,we suggest that film thickness,the two kinetic parameters (a and b),and the initial density of the initiator and IE be the parameters that characterize ultrathin polymer brushes. Besides the kinetics study of SIP,the reported method has many other applications,for example,in the fast screening of catalyst system for SIP and other polymerization systems.
Surface initiated polymerization (SIP) is a valuable tool in synthesizing functional polymer brushes, yet the kinetic understanding of SIP lags behind the development of its application. We apply quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) to address two issues that are not fully addressed yet play a central role in the rational design of functional polymer brushes, namely quantitative determination of the kinetics and the initiator efficiency (IE) of SIP. SIP are monitored online using QCM. Two quantitative frequency-thickness (f-T) relations make the direct determination and comparison of the rate of polymerization possible even for different monomers. Based on the bi-termination model, the kinetics of SIP is simply described by two variables, which are related to two polymerization constants, namely a = 1/(k p,s,app?[M][R·]0) and b = k t,s,app/(k p,s,app[M]). Factors that could alter the kinetics of SIP are studied, including (i) the molecular weight of monomers, (ii) the solvent used, (iii) the initial density of the initiator, (iv) the concentration of monomer, [M], and (v) the catalyst system (ratio among the ingredients, metal, ligands, and additives). The dynamic nature of IE is also described by these two variables, IE = a/(a + bt). Instead of the molecular weight and the polydispersity, we suggest that film thickness, the two kinetic parameters (a and b), and the initial density of the initiator and IE be the parameters that characterize ultra-thin polymer brushes. Besides the kinetics study of SIP, the reported method has many other applications, for example, in the fast screening of catalyst system for SIP and other polymerization systems.
基金
Supported by the Nationd Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 20604402)
Natural Science Foundation of Beijing (Grant No. 2072008)
Na-tional Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2009CB320300)
