Publications related to A Potassium-Selective Quartz Crystal Microbalance Sensor Based on Crown-Ether Functionalized Polymer Brushes

Soft Mechanochemistry of Disulfide-Crosslinked Polymer Networks

Mechanochemistry harnesses mechanical force to facilitate chemical reactions. Traditionally, the field of polymer mechanochemistry has used methods to activate chemical bonds, which use forces that are larger than those that are required to break a covalen ...

EPFL2024

Biobased Composites from Eugenol- and Coumarin-Derived Methacrylic Latex and Hemp Nanocellulose: Cross-Linking via [2+2] Photocycloaddition and Barrier Properties

Yves Leterrier, Sara Dalle Vacche

A novel-biobased latex was synthesized by redox-initiated emulsion copolymerization of ethoxy dihydroeugenyl methacrylate with 5 wt % of a photosensitive methacrylate containing a coumarin group. A stable copolymer latex having 16 wt % solids content and a ...

Amer Chemical Soc2024

Architecturally Diverse Polymer Brushes Prepared via Surface-Initiated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization

Sabrina Sant

Polymer brushes, which are polymers anchored to a solid substrate by one chainend, have the ability to modify the properties of an underlying substrate, offering intriguing features such as enhanced lubrication, reduced friction, colloidal stability, and a ...

EPFL2023

Supramolecular Polymer Brushes Grown by Surface-Initiated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization from Cucurbit[7]uril-based Non-Covalent Initiators

Harm-Anton Klok, Friederike Katharina Metze, Irene Filipucci

Polymer brushes are densely grafted, chain end-tethered assemblies of polymers that can be produced via surface-initiated polymerization. Typically, this is accomplished using initiators or chain transfer agents that are covalently attached to the substrat ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH2023

Opportunities, Challenges, and Pitfalls in Making, Characterizing, and Understanding Polymer Brushes

Harm-Anton Klok

Polymer brushes have been theoretically described, their behavior under diverse conditions has been modeled, and their preparation via surface-initiated polymerizations (SIPs) has been progressively refined. However, despite three decades of research endea ...

American Chemical Society2023

Supramolecular Polymer Brushes

Friederike Katharina Metze

Thin polymer coatings present a method to modify the surface properties of underlying substrates. Polymer-coated surfaces have been used as anticorrosive materials, surfaces with special wetting properties, antifriction materials, and as materials for biom ...

EPFL2023

The role of plasma-atom and molecule interactions on power & particle balance during detachment on the MAST Upgrade Super-X divertor

Christian Gabriel Theiler, Kevin Henricus Annemarie Verhaegh

This paper shows first quantitative analysis of the detachment processes in the MAST Upgrade Super-X divertor (SXD). We identify an unprecedented impact of plasma-molecular interactions involving molecular ions (likely D2+ ), resulting in strong ion sinks ...

IOP Publishing Ltd2023

Anionic character of the conduction band of sodium chloride

Klaus Kern, Abhishek Grewal

The alkali halides are ionic compounds. Each alkali atom donates an electron to a halogen atom, leading to ions with full shells. The valence band is mainly located on halogen atoms, while, in a traditional picture, the conduction band is mainly located on ...

Nature Portfolio2022

Asymmetric opening of the homopentameric 5-HT3A serotonin receptor in lipid bilayers

Horst Vogel, Shuguang Yuan

Pentameric ligand-gated ion channels (pLGICs) of the Cys-loop receptor family are key players in fast signal transduction throughout the nervous system. They have been shown to be modulated by the lipid environment, however the underlying mechanism is not ...

Nature Research2021

Light-Activated, Bioadhesive, Poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) Brush Coatings

Dominique Pioletti, Harm-Anton Klok, Nariye Cavusoglu Ataman, Peyman Karami, Jian Wang

Rapid adhesion between tissue and synthetic materials is relevant to accelerate wound healing and to facilitate the integration of implantable medical devices. Most frequently, tissue adhesives are applied as a gel or a liquid formulation. This manuscript ...

American Chemical Society2020

Reversibly Cross-Linking Polymer Brushes Using Interchain Disulfide Bonds

Harm-Anton Klok, Piotr Mocny

The introduction of interchain cross-links in surface-grafted polymer brushes increases the robustness and mechanical properties of these thin polymer films. In most cases, cross-linked polymer brushes contain permanent interchain cross-links. The use of r ...

American Chemical Society2020

Na3V2(PO4)(3)-Supported Electrospun Carbon Nanofiber Nonwoven Fabric as Self-Standing Na-Ion Cell Cathode

Jürgen Brugger, Carlo Ricciardi, Lorenzo Lucherini

Sodium-ion technology is a reliable alternative to lithium-ion for large-scale energy storage because of the abundance of sodium sources and related low cost. In this work, we report about a simple fabrication of self-standing electrodes based on electrosp ...

2020

Enhancing the Signaling of GPCRs via Orthosteric Ions

Horst Vogel, Shuguang Yuan

G protein-coupled receptors play essential roles in cellular processes such as neuronal signaling, vision, olfaction, tasting, and metabolism. As GPCRs are the most important drug targets, understanding their interactions with ligands is of utmost importan ...

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2020

Functional and Responsive Polymers via Controlled Radical Polymerization

Jian Wang

This Thesis is built around 4 topics, which share in common that they all take advantage of the assets of controlled radical polymerization to either (i) prepare well-defined model systems to address fundamental research questions with regard to the sensit ...

EPFL2020

Polymer brush interfaces for protein biosensing prepared by surface-initiated controlled radical polymerization

Harm-Anton Klok, Michael Badoux, Mark Billing

Thin polymer films that are able to bind proteins are of great relevance for a wide variety of biosensor and biochip applications. Some of these applications require films that have high protein binding capacities while others call for surfaces that allow ...

2019

Controlling topology, dynamics and function of polymer brushes via post-polymerization modification

Piotr Mocny

Polymer brushes are a class of thin coatings, where each of chains is tethered to the underlying substrate via one chain end. Densely grafted polymer brushes feature a stretched chain conformation, which in a unique way enhances their lubrication and non-b ...

EPFL2019

Synthesis of Loop Poly(Methyl Methacrylate) Brushes via Chain-End Postpolymerization Modification

Harm-Anton Klok, Piotr Mocny

Polymer brushes are typically densely grafted assemblies of polymer chains that are tethered via one end group to a solid substrate. Anchoring linear polymer chains via both end groups to a surface results in loop-type polymer brushes. Although loop polyme ...

American Chemical Society2019

Swelling-Induced Chain Stretching Enhances Hydrolytic Degrafting of Hydrophobic Polymer Brushes in Organic Media

Harm-Anton Klok, Jian Wang

Hydrophilic polymer brushes grown via surface‐initiated polymerization from silicon oxide surfaces can detach or degraft in aqueous media. Degrafting of these chain end‐tethered polymers is believed to involve hydrolysis of bonds at the polymer–substrate i ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH2019

Nanoscale Selective Passivation of Electrodes Contacting a 2D Semiconductor

Aleksandra Radenovic, Michael Graf, Martina Lihter

2D semiconducting materials have become the central component of various nanoelectronic devices and sensors. For sensors operating in liquid, it is crucial to efficiently block the electron transfer that occurs between the electrodes contacting the 2D mate ...

2019

An Acid Test: Facile SI-ARGET-ATRP of Methacrylic Acid

Harm-Anton Klok, Piotr Mocny

Atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of methacrylic acid (MAA) is challenging. Herein is reported a study of conditions for facile surface-initiated ATRP by activator regenerated electron transfer (SI-ARGET-ATRP) growth of poly-methacrylic acid (PMA ...

2018