Open AccessConcentrating Vapor Traces with Binary Brushes of Immiscible Polymers
Author(s) -
Leon A. Smook,
Guido C. Ritsema van Eck,
Sissi de Beer
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
acs applied polymer materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2637-6105
DOI - 10.1021/acsapm.1c00321
Subject(s) - polymer , sorption , water vapor , materials science , coating , chemical engineering , binary number , sensitivity (control systems) , nanotechnology , chemistry , organic chemistry , composite material , adsorption , arithmetic , mathematics , electronic engineering , engineering
Vapors in the air around us can provide useful information about our environment, but we need sensitive vapor sensors to access this information, especially because those vapors are often present at very low concentrations. We report molecular dynamics simulations of a concept that can significantly increase the sensitivity of vapor sensors at low concentrations. By coating the sensor surfaces with end-anchored immiscible polymers, surface-bound polymer blends are formed that can concentrate vapors, reaching sorption enhancements of more than one order of magnitude, especially at low vapor concentrations.