Advances in Surface Initiated Polymerization

The recent developments of surface initiated polymerization are reviewed. Surface modification of the polymers is an important area both for application and basic research. As a new kind of controlled polymerization techniques, surface initiated polymerization can be used to modify the surfaces of the solid materials and tailor substrate properties. It opens a new way for the modification of solid substrates for their potential applications in a variety of technological fields. The theoretical and the experimental approaches and the research prospects of the surface initiated polymerization are extensively introduced in this paper. The applications of this technique including the patterned nanostructures of polymer films and polymer brushes are also discussed in detail.