Abstract
A self-repairable high density polymer brush of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) is formed at the interface between cross-linked poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) and water by spontaneous surface segregation of an amphiphilic diblock copolymer consisting of PEG and PDMS. The surface reconstruction by the formation of the brush was observed as the large hysteresis of the contact angle of the water droplet. Neutron reflectivity measurement revealed that the grafting density of the polymer brush is 2.8 chain/nm2, which is comparable to those of polymer brushes by the surface-initiated polymerization method. The formation of such a remarkably dense polymer brush by segregation can be well supported by the balance between the mixing enthalpy of PEG and water and the stretching energy of PEG.
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