Modeling of reinitiation ability of polymer brushes grown by surface‐initiated photoiniferter‐mediated photopolymerization

Abstract

AbstractA kinetic model developed to investigate surface‐initiated photoiniferter‐mediated photopolymerization (SI‐PMP) and parameterized using experimental thickness data from SI‐PMP of methyl methacrylate is used to examine chain extension by reinitiation. Specifically, the effects of light intensity, concentration of an added deactivator, tetraethylthiuram disulfide (TED), and initial photoiniferter (PI) concentration on the reinitiation ability of surface‐tethered PMMA layers is examined in detail. The simulations show that while increases in [TED] and decreases in light intensity affect overall rates of PMMA layer growth in a similar fashion, their effect on reinitiation ability of PMMA layers is significantly different: reinitiation ability increases with increasing [TED] but it is not improved by decreases in light intensity. Simulations also suggest that polymer layers synthesized in the presence of TED have a greater tendency to form surface‐tethered block copolymers upon reinitiation compared with polymer layers synthesized without TED and at lower light intensity. While both [PI] and [TED] affect the reinitiation ability, the effect of [TED] on reinitiation ability is identical at a given [TED]/[PI] ratio for all PI and TED concentrations tested. These findings obtained from the rate‐based model are instrumental in delineating strategies for creating tethered block copolymer layers or mixed brushes by SI‐PMP. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 1586–1593, 2010