Role of branching on the structure of polymer brushes formed from comb copolymers

The structure of polymer brushes formed from comb copolymers, and the role of branching are discussed. The structure and scaling of linear polymer brushes, created by preferentially adsorbed, branched polymer amphiphiles is also studied. It is observed that preferential absorption of the comb copolymers results in highly adsorbed amount compared to what is achieved with diblock copolymers, while the degree-of-stretching of the brushes formed from the combs is sightly higher than what is typically realized with brushes formed from diblock copolymer. It was also observed that connectivity and the local effects are important in brushes formed from branched polymer amphiphiles.