{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,2]],"date-time":"2025-11-02T02:24:48Z","timestamp":1762050288047,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,9]],"date-time":"2022-05-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1652054400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001659","name":"Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["496201730 (BE 7737\/2-1)","422852551-SPP2171","265191195-SFB1194"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["496201730 (BE 7737\/2-1)","422852551-SPP2171","265191195-SFB1194"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001659","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Molecules"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Molecular permeability through polymer brush chains is implicated in surface lubrication, wettability, and solute capture and release. Probing molecular transport through polymer brushes can reveal information on the polymer nanostructure, with a permeability that is dependent on chain conformation and grafting density. Herein, we introduce a brush system to study the molecular transport of fluorophores from an aqueous droplet into the external \u201cdry\u201d polymer brush with the vapour phase above. The brushes consist of a random copolymer of N-isopropylacrylamide and a F\u00f6rster resonance energy transfer (FRET) donor-labelled monomer, forming ultrathin brush architectures of about 35 nm in solvated height. Aqueous droplets containing a separate FRET acceptor are placed onto the surfaces, with FRET monitored spatially around the 3-phase contact line. FRET is used to monitor the transport from the droplet to the outside brush, and the changing internal distributions with time as the droplets prepare to recede. This reveals information on the dynamics and distances involved in the molecular transport of the FRET acceptor towards and away from the droplet contact line, which are strongly dependent on the relative humidity of the system. We anticipate our system to be extremely useful for studying lubrication dynamics and surface droplet wettability processes.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules27093043","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,10]],"date-time":"2022-05-10T00:30:28Z","timestamp":1652142628000},"page":"3043","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["Molecular Transport within Polymer Brushes: A FRET View at Aqueous Interfaces"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"given":"Quinn A.","family":"Besford","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Leibniz-Institut f\u00fcr Polymerforschung e.V., Hohe Str. 6, 01069 Dresden, Germany"}]},{"given":"Simon","family":"Schubotz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Leibniz-Institut f\u00fcr Polymerforschung e.V., Hohe Str. 6, 01069 Dresden, Germany"}]},{"given":"Soosang","family":"Chae","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Leibniz-Institut f\u00fcr Polymerforschung e.V., Hohe Str. 6, 01069 Dresden, Germany"}]},{"given":"Ay\u015fe B.","family":"\u00d6zdabak Sert","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Molecular Biology and Genetics Department, Istanbul Technical University, 34469 Istanbul, Turkey"}]},{"given":"Alessia C. G.","family":"Weiss","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Leibniz-Institut f\u00fcr Polymerforschung e.V., Hohe Str. 6, 01069 Dresden, Germany"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1515-0143","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"G\u00fcnter K.","family":"Auernhammer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Leibniz-Institut f\u00fcr Polymerforschung e.V., Hohe Str. 6, 01069 Dresden, Germany"}]},{"given":"Petra","family":"Uhlmann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Leibniz-Institut f\u00fcr Polymerforschung e.V., Hohe Str. 6, 01069 Dresden, Germany"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6394-5031","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jos\u00e9 Paulo S.","family":"Farinha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro de Qu\u00edmica Estrutural, Department of Chemical Engineering, Instituto Superior T\u00e9cnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6692-3762","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andreas","family":"Fery","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Leibniz-Institut f\u00fcr Polymerforschung e.V., Hohe Str. 6, 01069 Dresden, Germany"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7212","DOI":"10.1021\/la301033h","article-title":"Wettability and antifouling behavior on the surfaces of superhydrophilic polymer brushes","volume":"28","author":"Kobayashi","year":"2012","journal-title":"Langmuir"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"208","DOI":"10.1002\/tcr.201000001","article-title":"Tribological properties of hydrophilic polymer brushes under wet conditions","volume":"10","author":"Kobayashi","year":"2010","journal-title":"Chem. 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