Polymeric materials: Polymer Carpets (Small 15/2010)

The frontispiece shows a new class of polymeric material, “polymer carpets,” in which a polymer brush is grown by surface-initiated polymerization of vinyl monomers from a crosslinked 1 nm thick monolayer (nanosheet). Because the polymer brush is attached to a flexible nanosheet, the carpet can display significant morphological changes such as buckling. The main image displays a true-to-scale 3D representation of an AFM scan of a buckled polystyrene carpet. The solid-supported as well as freestanding polymer carpets are found to be mechanically robust, and react towards external stimuli by instantaneous and reversible changes of their shape. The carpet mechanics and the dramatic changes of the film properties (optical, wetting) upon chemical stimuli are investigated in detail as they allow the development of completely new integrated micro-/nanotechnological devices. For more information, please read the Full Paper “Polymer Carpets” by R. Jordan, A. Gölzhäuser, and co-workers, beginning on page 1622.