Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-112). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Highly organised structures have been well-known to be part of the complex neuronal network presented in the nervous system, where thousands of neuronal connections are arranged to give rise to critical physiological functions. Conventional in vitro culture methods are useful to represent simplistic neuronal behaviour, however, the lack of such organisation results in random and uncontrolled neurite spreading, leading to a lack of cell directionality and in turn, resulting in inaccurate neuronal in vitro models. Neurons are highly specialised cells, known to be greatly dependent on interactions with their surroundings. Therefore, when surface material is modified, drastic changes in neuronal behaviour can be achieved. The use of chemically modified surfaces in vitro has opened new avenues in cell culture, where the chaotic environment found in conventional culture methods can be controlled by the combination of surface modification methods with surface engineering techniques. Polymer brushes and self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) display a wide range of advantages as a surface modification tool for cell culture applications, since their properties can be finely tuned to promote or inhibit cellular adhesion, differentiation and proliferation. Therefore, when precisely combined with patterning techniques, a control over neuronal behaviour can be achieved. Neuronal patterning presents a system with instructive cues that can be used to study neuron-neuron communication by directing single neurites in specific locations to initiate synapses. Furthermore, although this area has not been much explored, the use of these patterned brushes could also be used in co-culture systems as a platform to closely monitor cell heterotypical communication. This research demonstrates the behaviour of SH-SY5Y neurons on a variety of SAMs and polymer brushes, both in isolation and combination to promote cellular spatial control. APTES and BIBB coatings promoted the highest cell viability, proliferation, metabolic activity and neuronal maturation, whilst low cell adhesion was seen on PKSPMA and PMETAC surfaces. Thereafter, PKSPMA brushes were used as a potential cell repulsive coating and its combination with micro- patterning techniques (photolithography and soft lithography) resulted in a system with instructive cues for neuronal guidance, where neuronal directionality was obtained. In the final chapter of this thesis, a chimeric co-culture system was developed where the patterned SH-SY5Y cells were co-cultured with C2C12 myoblasts in an attempt to obtain an organised neuronal-muscle co-culture system. Whilst preliminary observations showed first stages of a patterned neuronal-muscle co-culture, future work is necessary to refine and improve the patterned co-culture process.

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Polymer applications have become more demanding as industry continuously turns to more microscopic parts. Due to the interactions of the polymer chains with the supporting surface and the air interface, the thinner films required for such applications have distinctly different properties than those of the well-defined bulk systems. The goal of the current research is to elucidate the behavior of ultrathin films. Two separate studies were performed on thin films supported on silicon wafer substrates: the first focuses on the viscoelastic cooperativity of thin films, and the second concentrates on the morphological behavior of polymer brush films. For the first study, polymethyl methacrylate films were spin coated onto silicon wafers, and the film thickness was determined using ellipsometry. A series of thin films were examined using techniques such as dielectric analysis and thermal mechanical analysis. The theory of cooperativity, which explains polymeric behavior using the intermolecular and intramolecular forces among polymer chains, was employed to understand the behavior of these thin films. Another type of thin film, a polymer brush, was investigated in the second study. Polymer brushes are formed by chemically bonding one end of many polymer chains to a substrate. The other ends of the chains can interact with the surrounding environment creating a brush-like structure. Constraining one end of a polymer chain alters the behavior of such a thin film. Polymer brushes of the di-block copolymer poly(t-butyl methacrylate) and polystyrene were produced on silicon wafers using spin coating techniques. The effects of both grafting density and solvent washes were analyzed using contact angle analysis and atomic force microscopy. In addition, hydrolysis was successfully performed on existing polymer brush samples to produce polymer brushes of the di-block copolymer polymethyl acrylic acid and polystyrene. / Master of Science

The research project aimed to synthesise semiconducting polymer brushes (polymer chains densely grafted to a surface) utilising simple and efficient organic chemistry methods, with a view to use in molecular-level electronic applications. Conjugated polymers were initially chosen for their ability to conduct electrical charge along a polymer chain by facilitating electron transfer between π-bonds. Polymers also aimed to be living , which could allow for further chain growth at a later point in time. This could lead to the production of various useful brush block co-polymers, with different blocks (or layers) of polymers having different chemical, structural and electronic properties. Initially, several syntheses towards monomers for poly(phenyl isocyanide) and poly(quinoxaline-2,3-diyl) were undertaken with limited success. Attention was turned to the synthesis of poly(thiophene)s by Kumada catalyst-transfer polymerisation (KCTP), again with varying success. After this, ring-opening metathesis polymerisation (ROMP) was explored as a possible avenue. The successful synthesis of several cyclopropenes for use as monomers was carried out. However, the ROMP of these monomers failed. ROMP of unsubstituted norbornene was successful. XPS studies suggested that vapour deposition of SAMs (Self Assembled Monolayers) gave homogenous monolayers. Solution-phase depositions appeared prone to inhomogeneous multilayer deposition. Vapour deposited SAMs gave better grafting densities at lower deposition pressures, leading to thicker polymer brushes. Finally, atom transfer radical polymerisation (ATRP) methods have been investigated. ARGET-ATRP was determined as the favoured method as it uses lower quantities of copper. Functionalised monomers for ATRP were synthesised, but homopolymers of these polyaromatic monomers have been difficult to synthesise by both copper-mediated ATRP and AIBN initiation. Polymer brushes and polymer brush diblocks of post-polymerisation modified PHEMA and PDMAEMA have been successfully grown on silicon wafers and glass slides, with a view to using the diblocks of these polymers as effective bulk heterojunction photovoltaic devices. The kinetics of the growth of both polymers by the ARGET and ATRP methods were studied to determine the degree to which each polymerisation is living; to determine if diblock growth would be possible. PHEMA brushes were successfully modified with a range of polyaromatic acid chlorides. Focussing on anthracene (which has excellent fluorescence properties, displaying a clear ability to move electrons between energy levels), this attachment was further confirmed by a range of techniques, before successfully growing a brush diblock of the unfunctionalised and functionalised polymers.

This thesis studies strong, completely charged polyelectrolyte brushes. Extensive molecular dynamics simulations are performed on different polyelectrolyte brush systems using local compute servers and massively parallel supercomputers. The full Coulomb interaction of charged monomers, counterions, and salt ions is treated explicitly. The polymer chains are anchored by one of their ends to a uncharged planar surface. The chains are treated under good solvent conditions. Monovalent salt ions (1:1 type) are modelled same as counterions. The studies concentrate on three different brush systems at constant temperature and moderate Coulomb interaction strength (Bjerrum length equal to bond length): <br><br> The first system consists of a single polyelectrolyte brush anchored with varying grafting density to a plane. Results show that chains are extended up to about 2/3 of their contour length. The brush thickness slightly grows with increasing anchoring density. This slight dependence of the brush height on grafting density is in contrast to the well known scaling result for the osmotic brush regime. That is why the result obtained by simulations has stimulated further development of theory as well as new experimental investigations on polyelectrolyte brushes. This observation can be understood on a semi-quantitative level using a simple scaling model that incorporates excluded volume effects in a free-volume formulation where an effective cross section is assigned to the polymer chain from where couterions are excluded. The resulting regime is called nonlinear osmotic brush regime. Recently this regime was also obtained in experiments. <br><br> The second system studied consists of polyelectrolyte brushes with added salt in the nonlinear osmotic regime. Varying salt is an important parameter to tune the structure and properties of polyelectrolytes. Further motivation is due to a theoretical scaling prediction by Pincus for the salt dependence of brush thickness. In the high salt limit (salt concentration much larger than counterion concentration) the brush height is predicted to decrease with increasing external salt, but with a relatively weak power law showing an exponent -1/3. There is some experimental and theoretical work that confirms this prediction, but there are other results that are in contradiction. In such a situation simulations are performed to validate the theoretical prediction. The simulation result shows that brush thickness decreases with added salt, and indeed is in quite good agreement with the scaling prediction by Pincus.<br><br> The relation between buffer concentration and the effective ion strength inside the brush at varying salt concentration is of interest both from theoretical as well as experimental point of view. The simulation result shows that mobile ions (counterions as well as salt) distribute nonhomogeneously inside and outside of the brush. To explain the relation between the internal ion concentration with the buffer concentration a Donnan equilibrium approach is employed. Modifying the Donnan approach by taking into account the self-volume of polyelectrolyte chains as indicated above, the simulation result can be explained using the same effective cross section for the polymer chains. The extended Donnan equilibrium relation represents a interesting theoretical prediction that should be checked by experimental data.<br><br> The third system consist of two interacting polyelectrolyte brushes that are grafted to two parallel surfaces. The interactions between brushes are important, for instance, in stabilization of dispersions against flocculation. In the simulations pressure is evaluated as a function of separation D between the two grafting planes. The pressure behavior shows different regimes for decreasing separation. This behavior is in qualitative agreement with experimental data. At relatively weak compression the pressure behavior obtained in the simulation agrees with a 1/D power law predicted by scaling theory. Beyond that the present study could supply new insight for understanding the interaction between polyelectrolyte brushes. / In dieser Arbeit werden vollständig geladene, starke Polyelektrolytbürsten untersucht. Unter Verwendung lokaler Computeserver und massiv paralleler Supercomputer wurden umfangreiche Molekulardynamik Simulationen von verschiedenen Polyelektrolytbürsten Systemen ausgeführt. Die vollständige Coulomb Wechselwirkung zwischen geladenen Monomeren, Gegen- und Salzionen wird explizit berücksichtigt. Die Polymerketten – in gutem Lösungsmittel simuliert – sind mit einem Ende an einer ungeladenen, planaren Grenzfläche verankert. Monovalente Salzionen (1:1) werden identisch wie Gegenionen modelliert. Simulationen bei konstanter Temperatur und moderater Stärke der Coulomb Wechselwirkung (Bjerrum Länge etwa gleich der Bindungslänge) konzentrieren sich auf drei Systeme:<br><br> 1. Polyelektrolytbürsten ohne Salzionen mit variabler Ankerdichte der Ketten<br> Die Simulationsergebnisse zeigen, dass die Polyelektrolytketten bis zu 2/3 ihrer Konturlänge gestreckt sind, wobei die Bürstenhöhe mit zunehmender Ankerdichte leicht wächst. Diese schwache Abhängigkeit steht im Widerspruch zu theoretischen Ergebnissen, die Unabhängigkeit von der Ankerdichte im so genannten osmotischen Regime vorhersagen. In der Folge haben die Simulationen sowohl weitergehende theoretische Überlegungen als auch neue experimentelle Untersuchungen an Polyelektrolytbürsten stimuliert. Zwischenzeitlich konnte die Beobachtung auf semi-quantitativer Ebene auf der Basis eines einfachen Skalenmodells verstanden werden, welches das Eigenvolumen der Polymerketten im Rahmen einer freien Volumen Näherung berücksichtigt. Dabei wird der Kette ein effektiver Querschnitt zugeordnet, von dem Gegenionen ausgeschlossen sind. Das resultierende Regime, in dem nichtlineare Entropie und Elastizität berücksichtigt sind, wird als nichtlinear osmotisches Regime bezeichnet. In der Zwischenzeit konnte dieses Regime auch experimentell verifiziert werden.<br><br> 2. Polyelektrolytbürsten im nichtlinear osmotischen Regime mit variabler Salzkonzentration <br> Struktur und Eigenschaften von Polyelektrolyten können in einfacher Weise durch Veränderung der Salzkonzentration beeinflusst werden. Nach Pincus sollte für starke Salzkonzentration (groß gegenüber der Konzentration der Gegenionen) die Bürstenhöhe mit wachsender Konzentration abnehmen, jedoch nur als relativ schwaches Potenzgesetz mit einem Exponenten -1/3. In der Literatur sind experimentelle und theoretische Ergebnisse bekannt, die diese theoretische Vorhersage bestätigen – allerdings auch solche, die dazu im Widerspruch stehen. In einer solchen Situation sind Simulationen ein geeignetes Mittel, um theoretische Vorhersagen zu überprüfen: In der Tat bestätigen die vorliegenden Simulationsergebnisse in eindeutiger Weise die theoretische Vorhersage von Pincus.<br><br> Das Verhältnis zwischen Buffer Konzentration und effektiver Ionenstärke in der Polymerschicht ist nicht nur von theoretischem Interesse, sondern hat ebenso experimentelle Relevanz. Die Simulationen zeigen, dass die mobilen Ionen innerhalb und außerhalb der Polyelektrolytbürste inhomogen verteilt sind. Ein Erklärungsversuch mit Hilfe des Donnan Gleichgewichts liefert nur für sehr kleine Salzkon-zentrationen befriedigende Übereinstimmung, ansonst ein qualitativ unterschiedliches Verhalten. Wird jedoch das Eigenvolumen der Ketten in ähnlicher Weise wie oben skizziert berücksichtigt, können die Simulationsdaten bei identischer Parameterwahl in nahezu perfekter Übereinstimmung reproduziert werden. Der erweiterte Ansatz für das Donnan Gleichgewicht in konzentrierten Systemen stellt eine interessante theoretische Vorhersage dar, die auch experimentell überprüft werden sollte.<br><br> 3. Wechselwirkung zwischen zwei Polyelektrolytbürsten ohne Salz <br> Repulsive Wechselwirkungen zwischen Polymerbürsten haben in unterschiedlichen Zusammenhängen eine große Bedeutung, so z.B. bei der Stabilisierung von Dispersionen oder bei der Reduzierung von Reibungswiderständen in biologischen Systemen. In den vorgestellten Simulationen von zwei Polyelektrolytbürsten, die an gegenüberliegende Grenzflächen verankert sind, wird der osmotische Druck in Abhängigkeit vom Abstand D der Ankerflächen untersucht. Mit abnehmendem Abstand werden unterschiedliche Regime im Verhalten des Druckes beobachtet. Dieses Verhalten stimmt qualitativ mit experimentellen Ergebnissen überein. Für relativ schwache Überlappung folgt das Verhalten des Drucks dem theoretisch vorhergesagten 1/D Skalengesetz. Darüber hinaus liefert die Simulationsuntersuchung neue Daten zum Verständnis der Wechselwirkung zwischen Polyelektrolyt Bürsten.

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Polymer brushes provide the responsive smart surfaces which can be used for fabrication of various devices. In this thesis work, adhesion, friction, and wear of polystyrene (PS) - poly(2-vinyl pyridine) (P2VP) and polystyrene - poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) binary brushes and corresponding monobrushes were investigated in dried state under controlled environment. Spin-coated films were also investigated for comparison. The aim was to explore possibilities to control/tune adhesion, friction, and wear between inorganic or polymeric surfaces by use of polymer brushes. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) with sharp silicon nitride tip and colloidal probes was employed to investigate the nanoscale adhesion and friction forces between different inorganic and polymeric surfaces. Adhesion and friction on the polymer brushes were comparable to that on the spin-coated films. Adhesion and friction force values were correlated, and were in accordance with the wettability of the brush surfaces for most of the samples. Switching in the adhesion and friction forces was observed for the PS+P2VP and PS+PAA binary brushes on treatment with selective solvents. Maximum switching in adhesion force and friction coefficient was by a factor of 2.7 and 5.4, respectively. Furthermore, switching of friction for mixed brush surface was observed during macroscale friction measurements using nanoindenter. Friction coefficients at macroscale were higher than those at the nanoscale. Moreover, adhesion and friction forces between the surfaces were significantly influenced by the humidity, grafting density of polymer brushes, chemical composition of top of the binary brush surface, and tip scan velocity. Nanowear studies were carried out with AFM using sharp silicon nitride tip while macrowear studies were carried out using nanoindenter. Nanowear on the surfaces was affected by molecular entanglements, adhesion and friction forces as well as shape and status of the tip. It was observed that the typical wear mode for PS brushes (treated with toluene) was ripple formation. In case of P2VP brushes (treated with ethanol) and PAA brushes (treated with pH 10 water), wear occurred via removal of the polymeric material. Wear mechanism observed for the monobrushes was similar to that observed for the spin-coated thick films of the same polymeric material. However, extent of the wear on the brush surfaces significantly differed from that on the spin-coated films. In case of PS+P2VP and PS+PAA binary brush samples, change in the wear mode was observed on treatment with the different selective solvents. On treatment with toluene (PS on the top), both of these binary brushes showed the wear by formation of the ripples. On the other hand, when these binary brushes were treated with selective solvent for P2VP or PAA, wear occurred mainly via removal of the polymeric material. The amount of wear increased with the number of scans for all the polymer brush samples. Moreover, wear on the polymer brush surfaces was also increased on increase in the applied load and decrease in the scan speed. Wear behavior on macroscale was averaged due to contact between surfaces at large number of asperities. Our results show that adhesion, friction, and wear of polymer surfaces can be controlled/tuned by the use of binary polymer brushes.

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