FRET-Integrated Polymer Brushes for Spatially Resolved Sensing of Changes in Polymer Conformation

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Quinn A. Besford - , Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden (Author)
  • Huaisong Yong - , Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden (Author)
  • Holger Merlitz - , Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden (Author)
  • Andrew J. Christofferson - , Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University (Author)
  • Jens Uwe Sommer - , Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden (Author)
  • Petra Uhlmann - , Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden (Author)
  • Andreas Fery - , Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden (Author)

Abstract

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.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)16600-16606
Number of pages7
JournalAngewandte Chemie - International Edition
Volume60
Issue number30
Publication statusPublished - 19 Jul 2021
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

External IDs

PubMed 33979032

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

  • chemosensing, fluorescence, FRET, polymer brushes, polymer dynamics