Efficient formation of poly(ethylene glycol) polymer brushes on gold electrodes via surface-initiated electrochemically mediated ATRP (SI-eATRP)

Electrochemically Mediated Surface-Initiated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization by ppm of CuII/Tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine

“…Significant progress has been witnessed in the electrochemically mediated surface-initiated ATRP (SI-eATRP) method. Matyjaszewski reported the first example of eATRP, and after that, eATRP has been widely used to prepare well-controlled polymers both in solution and on the surface. ,− Unlike a conventional ATRP reaction in a solution, in surface-initiated polymerization, the reaction occurs only on the surface, and the polymerization kinetics is typically controlled by the local Cu I /Cu II concentration at the vicinity of the surface on which the initiator is tethered rather than the concentration of Cu I /Cu II in the bulk solution . In a typical process of SI-eATRP, Cu I activators form at the working electrode upon application of a reduction potential of Cu II to Cu I , and eATRP is initiated when the Cu I catalyst diffuses to the substrate modified by the initiator. , Notably, Cu I is dynamically generated throughout the polymerization process, and controlling the Cu I /Cu II concentration is limited by the detection capability of the electrochemical workstation.…”