Our polymer brush research focuses on developing novel approaches to surface modification through controlled polymer growth. We developed the “grafting-through” technique, which supplies monomers through the surface where initiators are attached rather than from solution as in traditional “grafting-from” methods. This approach reverses the monomer concentration gradient found in conventional techniques, where monomer concentration is lowest at the substrate and highest in the surrounding solution. By reversing this gradient, shorter chains experience higher local monomer concentrations than longer chains, speeding up their growth relative to longer ones. AFM analysis shows that brush layers made by this method are thicker and have lower roughness than brushes made by grafting-from approaches. Our surface-initiated passing-through polymerization extends this concept to create zwitterionic polymer brushes with enhanced wettability, grafting density, uniformity, salt permeation retardation, and fouling resistance compared to traditional growing-from techniques. We have collaborated on applying these polymer brush methodologies to biomedical substrates, contributing our surface modification expertise to projects involving silk fibroin and collagen. Our fundamental work also encompasses studies of chain distribution in polymer brushes and extends to challenging substrates like swollen rubber materials, demonstrating the versatility of our synthetic approaches across diverse material systems.
Patents
Silk fibroin derived brush-like polymers
Burke, K. A.; Rowe, C. K.; Adamson, D. H.
US Patent App. 18/692,742
2025
Publications
Surface-Initiated Passing-Through Polymerization on a Rubber Substrate: Supplying Monomer from Swollen Substrates
McDermott, S. T.; Ward, S. P.; Vy, N. C. H.; Wang, Z.; Morales-Acosta, M. D.; Dobrynin, A. V.; Adamson, D. H.
Macromolecules 2022 55:7265-7272
Solvent-free direct PEGylation of collagen fibers
Ward, S. P.; McDermott, S. T.; Heichel, D.; Burke, K. A.; Adamson, D. H.
ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering 2022 8:5101-5109
Controlled radical polymerization of hydrophilic and zwitterionic brush-like polymers from silk fibroin surfaces
Heichel, D. L.; Vy, N. C. H.; Ward, S. P.; Adamson, D. H.; Burke, K. A.
Journal of Materials Chemistry B 2020 8:10392-10406
Surface-initiated passing-through zwitterionic polymer brushes for salt-selective and antifouling materials
Vy, N. C. H.; Liyanage, C. D.; Williams, R. M. L.; Fang, J. M.; Kerns, P. M.; Schniepp, H. C.; Adamson, D. H.
Macromolecules 2020 53:10278-10288
“Grafting-Through”: Growing Polymer Brushes by Supplying Monomers through the Surface
Mohammadi Sejoubsari, R.; Martinez, A. P.; Kutes, Y.; Wang, Z.; Dobrynin, A. V.; Adamson, D. H.
Macromolecules 2016 49:2477-2483
Distribution of Chains in Polymer Brushes Produced by a “Grafting From” Mechanism
Martinez, A. P.; Carrillo, J.-M. Y.; Dobrynin, A. V.; Adamson, D. H.
Macromolecules 2016 49:547-553
Synthesis and Self-Assembly of Toothbrush-Like Block Copolymers
Martinez, A. P.; Cui, Z.; Hire, C.; Seery, T. A. P.; Adamson, D. H.
Macromolecules 2015 48:4250-4255