Rapid polymer brush growth by TEMPO-mediated controlled free-radical polymerization from swollen plasma deposited poly(maleic anhydride) initiator surfaces

Pulsed plasma-chemical deposition of poly(maleic anhydride) is shown to be a substrate-independent method for functionalizing solid surfaces with initiator sites for nitroxide-mediated controlled free-radical graft polymerization. Swelling of the initiator film via aminolysis can lead to grafted polymer brushes that are 1 order of magnitude thicker than those obtained by existing methods on solid surfaces.