Surface Engineering with Polymer Brush Photolithography

Abstract

Surface-tethered macromolecules, or polymer brushes, offer a unique platform for coating surfaces for a wide variety of applications. Surface-initiated polymerization (SI-P), through which polymer brushes can be grown directly from an initiator-functionalized surface, offers a facile, highly customizable approach that is synergistic with photolithography. Using a variety of photolithography devices and SI-Ps, complex polymer brush architectures can be fabricated with great spatial and temporal control. This article not only addresses techniques, advancements, applications, and possible future directions within the field of polymer brush photolithography, but it also provides resources to assist the reader in selecting the polymerization technique and photolithography device most conducive to a given endeavor.

Keywords: lithography; photochemistry; photopolymerization; surfaces.