Controlled-Height Brush Polymer Patterns via Surface-Initiated Thiol-Methacrylate Photopolymerizations

Here, we show that the surface-initiated thiol-(meth)acrylate polymerization can be used to create brush polymer patterns with precise control over the feature height at each microscale pixel. The reaction was studied using a printer where a digital micromirror device controls light delivery to the surface, so multiple reaction conditions can be examined in each print. The resulting increases in experimental throughput and precision were demonstrated by studying systematically the effect of photocatalyst, photoinitiator, and light intensity on feature growth rate. In addition to demonstrating the utility of surface-initiated thiol-(meth)acrylate chemistry for creating complex brush polymer patterns, this work describes an improved and high-throughput approach for studying grafted-from photopolymerizations.