Surface-Initiated Polymerization as an Enabling Tool for Multifunctional (Nano-)Engineered Hybrid Materials

Surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) has become an indispensable tool for engineering the structure and properties of polymer/inorganic and polymer/organic interfaces. This article describes the progress and challenges that are associated with the application of SI-ATRP to precisely control the molecular characteristics of polymer chains tethered to nanoparticle surfaces and explores the properties and potential applications of the resulting particle brush materials. Even for the conceptually most simple particle brush systems that is, spherical particles uniformly grafted with amorphous nonpolar polymers the complex superposition of interactions as well as time- and length-scales related to particle core and tethered chains provides a rich and largely unexplored parameter space for the design of novel functional materials. The application of the particle brush approach to the development of materials for applications ranging from photonic inks and paints to advanced high k dielectrics for energy storage and advanced nanocomposite materials with improved optical, mechanical, or transport characteristics is discussed.