title: Strong and tuneable wet adhesion with rationally designed layer-by-layer assembled triblock copolymer films.
abstract: In this study the wet adhesion between Layer-by-Layer (LbL) assembled films of triblock copolymer micelles was investigated. Through the LbL assembly of triblock copolymer micelles with hydrophobic, low glass transition temperature (Tg) middle blocks and ionic outer blocks, a network of energy dissipating polymer chains with electrostatic interactions serving as crosslinks can be built. Four triblock copolymers were synthesized through Atom Transfer Radical Polymerisation (ATRP). One pair had a poly(2-ethyl-hexyl methacrylate) middle block with cationic or anionic outer blocks. The other pair contained the same ionic outer blocks but poly(n-butyl methacrylate) as the middle block. The wet adhesion was evaluated with colloidal probe AFM. To our knowledge, wet adhesion of the magnitude measured in this study has not previously been measured on any polymer system with this technique. We are convinced that this type of block copolymer system grants the ability to control the geometry and adhesive strength in a number of nano- and macroscale applications.
authors.affiliation: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, School of Chemical Science and Engineering, Department of Fibre and Polymer Technology, Teknikringen 56, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden. wagberg@kth.se.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Träger
authors.affiliation: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, School of Chemical Science and Engineering, Department of Fibre and Polymer Technology, Teknikringen 56, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden. wagberg@kth.se.
authors.forename: Samuel A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Pendergraph
authors.affiliation: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, School of Chemical Science and Engineering, Department of Fibre and Polymer Technology, Teknikringen 56, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden. wagberg@kth.se and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Wallenberg Wood Science Centre, Teknikringen 56, SE-110 44 Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Torbjörn
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5444-7276
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pettersson
authors.affiliation: CR Competence AB, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden and Malmö University, Faculty of Health and Society, Department of Biomedical Science, SE-20506 Malmö, Sweden.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Halthur
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Chemistry, Lund University, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Tommy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nylander
authors.affiliation: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, School of Chemical Science and Engineering, Department of Fibre and Polymer Technology, Teknikringen 56, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden. wagberg@kth.se.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carlmark
authors.affiliation: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, School of Chemical Science and Engineering, Department of Fibre and Polymer Technology, Teknikringen 56, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden. wagberg@kth.se and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Wallenberg Wood Science Centre, Teknikringen 56, SE-110 44 Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wågberg