title: Versatile Method for Coating Surfaces with Functional and Responsive Polymer-Based Films.
abstract: A versatile surface modification technique was developed to yield poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAm) microgel-based thin films on a variety of substrates, e.g., metals, nonmetals, and polymers. Because the chemistry, and hence functionality and responsivity, of the pNIPAm-based microgels is easily tuned, multifunctional and responsive thin films could be generated on many different surfaces without varying the coating conditions. In one case, we showed that fluorescent/light emitting thin films could be generated using crystal violet-modified microgels. Antibacterial films could be obtained using silver nanoparticle-modified pNIPAm-based microgels. Finally, we show that thin films fabricated via the methods here could be used as a component in optical sensors. Although we show only a few examples of the utility of this approach, we feel that the apparent universality of the technique can be extended to countless other applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta , 11227 Saskatchewan Drive, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2G2, Canada.
authors.forename: Qiang Matthew
authors.initials: QM
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta , 11227 Saskatchewan Drive, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2G2, Canada.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Serpe
mesh_terms: D000180:Acrylic Resins / Q000737:chemistry; D005782:Gels / Q000737:chemistry*; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000180:Acrylic Resins; D005782:Gels; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D011108:Polymers; C052970:poly-N-isopropylacrylamide
keywords: functional coatings; responsive microgels; responsive polymers; sensing; surface modification