Formation and Properties of Responsive Siloxane‐Based Polymeric Surfaces with Tunable Surface Reconstruction Kinetics

Abstract

Abstract Here, the formation of responsive polymeric materials with tunable response time is reported. These structures are fabricated by chemically modifying poly(vinylmethyl siloxane) (PVMS) networks with alkanethiols bearing a hydrophilic end‐group (COOH or OH). The response time is facilitated by the liquid nature of the PVMS backbone and increases with increase in length of the methylene spacer (CH 2 ) n  in the alkanethiol pendent group. While for n = 2 and 6, the surface reconstructs almost instantaneously, specimens with n = 11 resist reconstruction because of strong van der Waals forces, leading to the formation of semi‐crystalline regions. It is demonstrated that the responsive nature of PVMSS(CH 2 ) 11 OH can be fine‐tuned by varying the temperature; it possesses a faster response at temperatures above the melting point of the S(CH 2 ) 11 OH moiety.