Handbook of engineering electromagnetics [Book Review]

Surface coatings are an important part of any electrical or electronic system. Most of us would be familiar with coatings deposited by spraying, spin coating, dipping, or doctor blading. Even more exotic techniques of thermal evaporation, plasma deposition, Langmuir-Boldgett films, and self-assembly have become more common. For the most part, these methods rely on physical interaction between the coating and the substrate. A “polymer brush” is a system in which one end of the polymer molecules is chemically bonded to the surface such that the bonded ends are densely packed and the polymer chains stretch away from the surface. This microstructure gives films having unusual surface macroscopic properties, such as ultra-low friction surfaces. The chapters in this book are divided into three parts: synthesis, characterization, and applications. Several synthetic methods are discussed, including grafting, atom transfer radical polymerization, polypeptides, ring-opening polymerization, organic-inorganic hybrids, photoinitiated polymerization, and surface-grafted hyperbranched polymers. The characterization techniques described in the following chapters include spectroscopy, microscopy, and electrochemistry. Characterization of brushes on a flat surface as well as brushes on the surface of a particle are discussed. Applications of polymer brushes should be of particular interest to our readers. There are seven chapters in this section, covering a wide range of applications. Those include adhesion and tribology, surfaces for microelectronics, including patterning of polymer brushes and switching behavior on a fast or slow time scale. Because of the wide range of topics and contributing authors, this book will appeal to a variety of people working with surface modifications of materials for many types of applications.