Free-Standing Macroinitiator Thin Film for Bifacial Polymer Chain Grafting

The study reports the fabrication of a free-standing reactive macroinitiator thin film via simple layer-by-layer assembly and dissolution of the sacrificial layer. The resulting macroinitiator thin film can be postfunctionalized by grafting polymer brush from it. Since the thin film is free from any substrate, bifacial functionalization can be done on the free-standing film. This approach is expected to significantly increase the functionality of free-standing polymer brush for most applications like catalysis and sensor because of the increase in functional group density per area.