title: Nanoscale brushes: how to build a smart surface coating.
abstract: Via computer simulations, we demonstrate how a densely grafted layer of polymers, a brush, could be turned into an efficient switch through chemical modification of some of its end monomers. In this way, a surface coating with reversibly switchable properties can be constructed. We analyze the fundamental physical principle behind its function, a recently discovered surface instability, and demonstrate that the combination of a high grafting density, an inflated end-group size, and a high degree of monodispersity is a condition for an optimal functionality of the switch.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, People's Republic of China. merlitz@gmx.de
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Merlitz
authors.forename: Gui-Li
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Chen-Xu
authors.initials: CX
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Jens-Uwe
authors.initials: JU
authors.lastname: Sommer