Publication 618

Surface Science , 601, 2357-2366, 2007. DOI: 10.1016/j.susc.2007.03.046
Grafting densely-packed poly (n-butyl methacrylate) chains from an iron substrate by aryl diazonium surface-initiated ATRP : XPS monitoring

Contribution from ITODYS, Université Paris 7-Denis Diderot & CNRS (UMR 7086), 1 rue Guy de la Brosse, 75005 Paris, France, Laboratoire de Chimie des Polymères, Université Paris 6-Pierre et Marie Curie & CNRS (UMR 7610), 4 Place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France, Alchimer, Z.I. La Bonde, 15 rue du Buisson aux Fraises, 91300 Massy, France, Laboratoire d’Electrochimie Moléculaire, Université Paris 7-Denis Diderot & CNRS (UMR 75951), 2 Place Jussieu, 75251 Paris Cedex 05, France

Poly( n -butyl methacrylate), PBMA, chains were grafted by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) from the surface of iron plates using electrochemically attached initiators based on diazonium salts providing an iron/polyphenylene/PBMA structure. This surface-initiated ATRP procedure was controlled by the addition of a small proportion of Cu ++ deactivator, but in the absence of any sacrificial initiator. Combined XPS, IR and AFM experiments provide a powerful means for the characterization of the obtained complex iron/polyphenylene/PBMA layered structure. It is possible to measure the thickness of the brominated aryl structure covalently attached to iron. Concerning the PBMA brushes, their presence on the surface was confirmed by IRRAS. The brominated chain end could be traced by XPS testifying for the ATRP character of the polymerization and the thickness of the polymer brushes was determined. The controlled living ATRP character of the polymerization is confirmed through a linear correlation between the thickness of the layer and the degree of polymerization. Measurement of the grafting density of PBMA chains indicates that they are compactly packed and that, approximately, one brominated aryl chain out of two efficiently initiates ATRP.