School of Chemistry, Physics and Mechanical Engineering, Institute for Future Environments, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), 2 George Street, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia.
Institute for Biological Interfaces, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
Adv Mater. 2018 May;30(21):e1706321. doi: 10.1002/adma.201706321. Epub 2018 Mar 7.
Well-defined polymer strands covalently tethered onto solid substrates determine the properties of the resulting functional interface. Herein, the current approaches to determine quantitative grafting densities are assessed. Based on a brief introduction into the key theories describing polymer brush regimes, a user's guide is provided to estimating maximum chain coverage and-importantly-examine the most frequently employed approaches for determining grafting densities, i.e., dry thickness measurements, gravimetric assessment, and swelling experiments. An estimation of the reliability of these determination methods is provided via carefully evaluating their assumptions and assessing the stability of the underpinning equations. A practical access guide for comparatively and quantitatively evaluating the reliability of a given approach is thus provided, enabling the field to critically judge experimentally determined grafting densities and to avoid the reporting of grafting densities that fall outside the physically realistic parameter space. The assessment is concluded with a perspective on the development of advanced approaches for determination of grafting density, in particular, on single-chain methodologies.
通过共价键将明确界定的聚合物链接到固体基底上，决定了所得功能界面的性质。在此，评估了目前用于确定定量接枝密度的方法。在简要介绍描述聚合物刷区的关键理论的基础上，提供了一个用户指南，用于估计最大链覆盖率，以及——重要的是——检查用于确定接枝密度的最常用方法，即干厚度测量、重量评估和溶胀实验。通过仔细评估这些测定方法的假设和评估基础方程的稳定性，对这些测定方法的可靠性进行了估计。因此，提供了一种实用的方法，用于比较和定量评估给定方法的可靠性，从而使该领域能够批判性地判断实验确定的接枝密度，并避免报告超出物理现实参数空间的接枝密度。该评估以对确定接枝密度的先进方法的展望结束，特别是对单链方法的展望。
