NUK - logo
E-resources
Full text
Peer reviewed
  • Immobilization of Semisoft ...
    Huang, Yun; Morinaga, Takashi; Tai, Yugo; Tsujii, Yoshinobu; Ohno, Kohji

    Langmuir, 07/2014, Volume: 30, Issue: 25
    Journal Article

    An immobilization technique for semisoft colloidal crystals, which are ordered arrays of polymer-brush-afforded hybrid particles synthesized by surface-initiated living radical polymerization (SI-LRP), is reported. Silica particles were first grafted with well-defined block copolymers of poly­(methyl methacrylate-co-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)-b-poly­(methyl methacrylate), P­(MMA-co-HEMA)-b-PMMA by SI-LRP, which gave a graft density as high as 0.7 chains/nm2. The HEMA units reacted with 2-isocyanatoethyl methacrylate to introduce vinyl groups at the outer layer of the polymer-brush shell. The modified hybrid particles formed a colloidal crystal in a solution containing a small amount of free polymers with vinyl groups. The colloidal crystal was photoirradiated in the presence of a photoradical initiator to immobilize it through a cross-linking reaction among the vinyl groups. The structural analyses of the colloidal crystals before and after the photoirradiation were carried out by confocal laser scanning microscopy; the results showed that the periodic structures of the crystals were maintained after immobilization.