Interpenetration and Lubrication of Responsive Polydisperse Brushes: Theory and Simulations

聚合物刷子通常用于永久性表面改性，以调节胶体分散体的稳定性，提供防污性能，并保护系统免受降解。刷状结构与滑液相结合，在哺乳动物关节中提供非常低的摩擦力，并在机械部件和人工髋关节和膝关节中作为润滑剂有重要应用。刷子还可以作为智能刺激响应性材料，可逆地改变表面属性或充当传感器。在这里，我们建议使用由吸附活性链形成的刷子来控制刷子修饰表面的压缩和润滑性能，以响应温度和/或溶剂组成的变化。多分散性是真实聚合物体系的固有特性，通常由合成/制备工艺决定，电刷性能受其影响。我们将证明，通过改变单体-表面亲和力，可以通过微相分离机制对其进行可逆改性，以及有效的接枝密度。

Polymer brushes are commonly used for permanent surface modification to mediate the stability of colloidal dispersions, provide anti-fouling properties and protect the system from degradation. Brush-like structures in combination with the synovial fluid provide very low friction in mammalian joints and have important applications as lubricants in machine parts and in artificial hip and knee joints. Brushes can also act as smart stimuli-responsive materials that change surface properties reversibly or act as sensors. Here we propose to use brushes formed by adsorption-active chains to control the compressional and lubricating properties of brush-modified surfaces in response to changing the temperature and/or solvent composition. Polydispersity is an inherent property of real polymer systems, which is normally fixed by the synthesis/preparation techniques, and brush properties are affected by it. We will demonstrate that it can be reversibly modified, together with the effective grafting density by varying the monomer-surface affinity, through a microphase segregation mechanism.