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Corrosion protection of iron surface modified by poly(methyl methacrylate) using surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP)

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Abstract

A new N-heterocyclic initiator N-[2-(8-heptadecenyl)-4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazole-1-ethyl]-2-bromoisobutyramide was synthesized and immobilized on the surface of iron. Methyl methacrylate was grafted from iron substrates via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The first-order kinetics of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) grafting from iron revealed the control of ATRP throughout the reaction, and the polymerization reached a high conversion producing polymers with good control of molecular weights (M n = 68,800) and low polydispersity indexes (M w/M n < 1.32). The thickness of the polymer brush films was greater than 47 nm after 7 h of reaction time. The grafting density was estimated to be 0.48 chains nm−2. The iron surfaces at various stages of modification were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectrometer. The analytical results were consistent with a thin compact polymer coating on the surface of iron. Iron surface with grafted PMMA coating showed significant corrosion resistance. This work demonstrated that the surface-initiated ATRP is a versatile means of the surface modification of active metals with well-defined and functionalized polymer brushes.

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Acknowledgement

We gratefully acknowledge the support of this work by the Analysis Centre of China Pharmaceutical University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Technology, Nanjing, 210009, People’s Republic of China

    Gang Lu, Yi-Min Li, Chun-Hua Lu & Zhong-Zi Xu

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  1. Gang Lu
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Correspondence to Gang Lu.

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Lu, G., Li, YM., Lu, CH. et al. Corrosion protection of iron surface modified by poly(methyl methacrylate) using surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP). Colloid Polym Sci 288, 1445–1455 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-010-2283-x

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