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FRET‐Integrated Polymer Brushes for Spatially Resolved Sensing of Changes in Polymer Conformation
Author(s) -
Besford Quinn A.,
Yong Huaisong,
Merlitz Holger,
Christofferson Andrew J.,
Sommer JensUwe,
Uhlmann Petra,
Fery Andreas
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.202104204
Subject(s) - förster resonance energy transfer , polymer brush , polymer , brush , materials science , nanotechnology , chemical physics , coupling (piping) , fluorescence , chemistry , optics , polymerization , composite material , physics
Polymer brush surfaces that alter their physical properties in response to chemical stimuli have the capacity to be used as new surface‐based sensing materials. For such surfaces, detecting the polymer conformation is key to their sensing capabilities. Herein, we report on FRET‐integrated ultrathin (<70 nm) polymer brush surfaces that exhibit stimuli‐dependent FRET with changing brush conformation. Poly( N ‐isopropylacrylamide) polymers were chosen due their exceptional sensitivity to liquid mixture compositions and their ability to be assembled into well‐defined polymer brushes. The brush transitions were used to optically sense changes in liquid mixture compositions with high spatial resolution (tens of micrometers), where the FRET coupling allowed for noninvasive observation of brush transitions around complex interfaces with real‐time sensing of the liquid environment. Our methods have the potential to be leveraged towards greater surface‐based sensing capabilities at intricate interfaces.