Polymeric vesicles with well-defined poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) brushes via surface-initiated photopolymerization (SIPP)

We describe a novel and general approach to fabricate polymeric vesicles with well-defined PMMA brushes by using silica particles as template through surface-initiated photopolymerization (SIPP). The crosslinked PDMAEMA layer was immobilized on the surface of silica particles, and then photoinitiated polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) was used to generate PMMA brushes in the presence of thioxanthone (TX). Polymeric vesicles with well-defined PMMA brush were obtained after removing silica cores. The whole process was well traced and confirmed by TEM, SEM, FT-IR and TGA. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report the fabrication of polymer brush on the surface of polymeric vesicles through SIPP. This robust approach is expected to have potential in fabrication and modification of polymer vesicles with different sizes and functions.