Patterning of a Surface Immobilized ATRP Initiator with an Inkjet Printer

Abstract

A new technique for patterning polymer brushes on the micrometer scale has been developed in which an inkjet printer was used to deposit droplets of acid on a surface-immobilized initiator for atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The acid cleaved an ester bond in the ATRP initiator in a saponification reaction. As a result, the ATRP initiator was rendered inactive. To control the degree of defunctionalization, a new initiator containing a weak ester bond was derived from a tertiary alcohol. Comparison to an established ATRP initiator, derived from a primary alcohol, showed that the novel initiator was defunctionalized with a higher efficiency. Control of the reaction time allowed to partially defunctionalize the initiator molecules, leading to control of grafting densities within the written patterns.