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CPP: Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik
CPP 35: Single molecules I
CPP 35.1: Talk
Wednesday, March 9, 2005, 09:45–10:00, TU C243
AFM-based single molecule force spectroscopy of surface-grafted polymer monolayers — •Lars Sonnenberg1, Julien Parvole2, Laurent Billon2, Oleg Borisov2, Markus Seitz1, and Hermann E. Gaub1 — 1Lehrstuhl für Angewandte Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Amalienstr. 54, 80799 München — 2Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie des Polymères, Hélioparc Pau-Pyrénées, 2 Av P Angot, 64053 Pau Cedex 09, France
Surface-grafted polymer layers created by the so-called No-dqgrafting-fromNo-dq technique on the basis of nitroxide-mediated polymerization (NMP) feature controlled monolayer thickness and polymer dimensions. Therefore, they offer a broad range of applications, whenever specific properties of the interfaces are tuned by proper surface modification. For a better understanding of the structure-property relationships in these polymer layers, which is necessary for the tuning of the materials properties, there is need for characterization at the molecular level.
Here, we present our results of desorption experiments of the interfacial polymer chains as obtained by AFM. The measured force curves reflect number, lengths and desorption forces of the substrate-bound polymer chains from an opposing silica surface. Most importantly, the lengths of the adsorbed polymer chains determined with force spectroscopy are in good agreement with previous molecular weight determination obtained by GPC. Thus, our results promise the implementation of the AFM method as an analytical tool for the analysis of chain length distribution and grafting density in surface-grafted polymer layers.