Comparison of two "grafting from" surface functionalization techniques: cathodic electrografting and surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization

Abstract : The synthesis of poly n-butyl methacrylate (pBuMA) grafted on gold surface has been achieved by cathodic electrografting process and by a "living" free radical polymerization technique i.e. surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP). Both polymerizations, that are "grafting from" methods, can be carried out in DMF solvent. The aim of this study was to compare these two techniques in terms of layer thickness and time of polymerization. So we discuss the influence of cyclic voltammetry parameters and the influence of the concentration of monomer or initiator in the SI-ATRP system: BuMA/CuBr/TMDETA. The resulting grafted polymers obtained were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy