Collaborative Research: Universal Processing Approaches for Functional Brush-like Polymer Surfaces

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Surface coatings are widely used to protect materials from degradation, inhibit fogging and fouling, or regulate interactions with cells and micro-organisms. However, current methods to produce coatings are slow, multi-step batch processes. This award supports fundamental research into the development of universal thin film coatings that can be synthesized with nearly limitless functions and applied to a wide variety of surfaces. The research involves the use of brush-like polymeric materials and integration with low-cost techniques for deposition on metal, glass, and plastics. This work has the potential to impact a broad range of commercial processes in semiconductor manufacturing, packaging, transportation, and medical treatment. Graduate students and REU students at both institutions will receive interdisciplinary training that includes polymer synthesis, polymer processing, and surface science. The PIs and their groups are involved with community outreach through the Children's Museum of Houston, and they will design a new module that demonstrates 3D printing of plastic parts with functional surfaces (hydrophobic and hydrophilic). This research project will establish scalable and universal approaches to prepare functional polymer brush coatings. Current methods to produce brush coatings are slow, multi-step batch processes. The PIs plan to generate functional coatings using bottlebrush polymers, a class of macromolecules that have "built-in" brush structures. Bottlebrush polymers can be synthesized with nearly limitless chemistries and functions, and they can be processed into coatings from solution or melt states. Significant anticipated outcomes include: i) Design rules for flow coating thin films of reactive and responsive bottlebrush polymers, which leverages a bio-inspired cross-linking chemistry (dopamine) to ensure film stability and adhesion on any surface; ii) Development of surface-active bottlebrush polymer additives for commodity or advanced plastics, which enables the spontaneous formation of brush-like surfaces during solution deposition (flow coating, electrospinning) or melt extrusion (3D printing).