Synthesis and characterization of polymer brushes on micromechanical cantilevers

A technique to cover microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). such as micromechanical cantilever (MC) sensors, with a covalently bound brush layer has been developed. The polymer layer was grown using a "grafting-from" synthesis of polymer brushes under mild conditions, by surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and ellipsometry have revealed a uniform thickness of about 12 nm from which a grafting density of polymer brushes of 0.19 chains.nm(-2) was estimated. The coating with polymer brushes can be realized on a selected surface. It was shown that a single-sided brush layer swells reversibly in toluene, resulting in a bending of the micromechanical cantilever.