Polymer Brushes, Hydrogels, Polyelectrolyte Multilayers: Stimuli-Responsivity and Control of Protein Adsorption

The research field of smart polymer surfaces benefits from non-invasive ellipsometric investigations, especially in-situ measurements, monitoring the swelling of polymer films and protein adsorption processes thereon at varying ambient conditions. With ellipsometry in the VIS-range layer thickness and refractive index of the polymer layers can be evaluated. Appropriate models for in-situ measurements will be discussed and results of the influence of solution parameters summarized. In-situ IR-ellipsometry provides information about changes in the vibration band structure for swelling and adsorption processes, where optical modelling in the IR-range yields complementary information about layer thicknesses and structural properties.