New methods in polymer brush synthesis: Non-vinyl-based semiflexible and rigid-rod polymer brushes

Non-vinyl-based ‘grafted from’ polymer brushes have generated much interest and growth in the past decade due to the potential for stiffer backbones, long-range order, and new backbone functional groups, compared to the traditional vinyl-based polymer brushes. This area of polymer brushes has been spurred on by recent advancements of new polymerization techniques, such as chain-growth condensation polymerization, that allow for the conversion of traditional step-growth polymers into the required chain-growth polymers to form polymer brushes via the ‘grafting from’ technique [1]. This exciting new category of polymer brushes forms semi-flexible or rigid-rod structures that have potential in a variety of applications including organic photovoltaics, organic light emitting diodes, tribological coatings, membranes for water purification and desalination, membranes for fuel cells, high performance coatings, and biosensing due to aromatic groups in the backbone, secondary bonding forces connecting chains, or conjugated backbones [2], [3]. This review will focus on the synthesis and characterization of non-vinyl-based polymer brushes, primarily prepared via the ‘grafting from’ technique, while also including an overview of potential applications of these systems and highlighting prospective areas for future developments.