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Theoretical Study of the Optimal Design of a UV-Controllable Smart Surface Decorated by a Hybrid Azobenzene-Containing Polymer Layer
journal contribution
posted on 2019-10-17, 15:04 authored by Xiangyu Bu, Shuangshuang Zhang, Xinghua Zhang, Tongchuan SuoAlthough grafting polymers onto surfaces
is widely suggested for
designing smart systems, optimizing the performance of such systems
is not simple. In this article, we investigate an azo-polymer-based
smart surface using the single-chain-in-mean-field theory. Through
the numerical simulations, we study the adhesion/erasion transition
of the system and show that the performance of the smart surface can
be characterized by the difference between the effective nanoparticle–surface
interactions in the UV-on and UV-off states. Further exploring the
optimization of the smart surface, we find that the distribution function
of the receptor can have typical bimodal characteristics, which is
crucial for optimizing the position of the azo-bond along the azo-polymer, f. Moreover, the presence of the homopolymer is also essential
for the optimal performance of the smart surface, and we build a reference
map for the good combinations of f and the homopolymer
design fhomo.