Eur. Phys. J. E 10, 77-81 (2003)
DOI: 10.1140/epje/e2003-00010-5

Controlled polystyrene brushes grown on AFM tip

C. Devaux and J.-P. Chapel

Polymeric Materials and Biomaterials Laboratory ( CNRS UMR 5627) , Claude Bernard - Lyon 1 University, ISTIL 43 boulevard du 11 Novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France

Jean-Paul.Chapel@univ-lyon1.fr

(Received 9 July 2002 and Received in final form 16 December 2002 Published online: 20 March 2003)

Abstract
We report here the first successful growth of Polystyrene brushes directly from the apex of a conventional AFM tip using a Langmuir-Blodgett deposition technique [1,2] associated with a controlled free radical polymerization. The efficiency of the grafting together with the possibility to form multi-layers are checked through AFM force measurements between a bare or functionalized tip and a silicon wafer in water or xylene.

PACS
82.35.-x - Polymers: properties; reactions; polymerization.
68.37.Ps - Atomic force microscopy (AFM).
68.47.Pe - Langmuir-Blodgett films on solids, polymers on surfaces, biological molecules on surfaces .

© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag 2003