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arXiv · 1412.4935

Sharp and fast: Sensors and switches based on polymer brushes with adsorption-active minority chains

Leonid I. Klushin·Alexander M. Skvortsov·Alexey A. Polotsky·Shuanhu Qi·Friederike Schmid
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Abstract

We propose a design for polymer-based sensors and switches with sharp switching transition and fast response time. The switching mechanism involves a radical change in the conformations of adsorption-active minority chains in a brush. Such transitions can be induced by a temperature change of only about ten degrees, and the characteristic time of the conformational change is less than a second. We present an analytical theory for these switches and support it by self-consistent field calculations and Brownian dynamics simulations.

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Leonid I. Klushin, Alexander M. Skvortsov, Alexey A. Polotsky, Shuanhu Qi, Friederike Schmid. 2014-12-16. Sharp and fast: Sensors and switches based on polymer brushes with adsorption-active minority chains. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.113.068303

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