Synthesis and characterization of polymer brushes containing metal nanoparticles

Summary Poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) brushes were grown from flat silicon wafers with surface-tethered α-bromoester initiator via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) in aqueous media at ambient temperature first. Kinetics studies revealed an approximate linear increase in thickness with reaction time, indicating that the polymerization process owned some “living” character. Then a kind of polymer-metal complexes (PMCs) were obtained after the introduction of Cu²⁺ cations into the PHEMA brushes by the complexing bond between Cu²⁺ cations and the hydroxyl groups in PHEMA brushes. Finally, the Cu²⁺ cations in PMCs were reduced by NaBH₄ and a kind of PHEMA brushes containing metal nanoparticles of Cu⁰ was formed.