Surface
properties of materials are strongly dependent on surface
chemistry and surface structures. The fabrication of hierarchical
surface nanostructures will endow solid surfaces with new functionalities
and properties. In this research, we propose the polymerization-induced
surface self-assembly (PISSA) approach for surface reconstruction.
In this approach, two macro-CTAs, one grafted on silica particles
and the other molecularly dissolved in solution, were used in reversible
addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) dispersion polymerization,
and surface micelles (s-micelles) with different morphologies and
sizes on silica particles were fabricated. Kinetics studies demonstrate
that there are two critical points on a plot of ln([M]0/[M]
t
) vs polymerization time, corresponding
to the onsets of surface assembly and the self-assembly of block copolymers.
The morphology of s-micelles is dependent on the monomer conversion
and the length of macro-CTA. For macro-CTA with short chain length,
with an increase in monomer conversion the s-micelles experience a
morphology change from spherical s-micelles to layered structures.
For macro-CTA with long chain length, the average size of s-micelles
increases with monomer conversion. In this research, we demonstrate
PISSA can be used as a versatile method for surface modification.