Polymer brushes in motion

Polymer brushes dramatically change the hydrodynamics of fluid flow and control the transport properties close to these structured surfaces. Applying advanced fluorescence correlation spectroscopy and metal-induced energy transfer to polymer brushes of varying chain length and grafting density, which are fabricated by controlled radical polymerization, we will measure the vertical and parallel motion of fluorescent molecules in the brush with nanometer resolution and obtain information about the complex interplay between hydrodynamic driving, brush motion, and local molecular transport. The measurements will be compared to theory and simulation.