Adapting Low-Adhesive Thin Films from Mixed Polymer Brushes

The concept of the responsive/adaptive mixed polymer brushes was applied to the development of the thin film coatings possessing low adhesive properties that were evaluated with AFM probes in different media. Mixed brushes composed of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and polyethyleneoxide (PEO) revealed a selective layered segregation in air and water. Immersion of the sample into an aqueous environment drove PEO chains to the brush-water interface while upon drying the surface undergoing reconstruction and was occupied with PDMS. Low interfacial energies of PDMS in air and PEO in water provided low-adhesive properties of the PDMS-PEO brushes to the probes in both media due to the spontaneous and rapid reconstruction of the mixed brush.