A grazing incidence neutron spin echo study of near surface dynamics in p(MEO2MA-co-OEGMA) copolymer brushes

Surface-attached architectures of p(MEO2MA-co-OEGMA) copolymers are thermoresponsive PEG analogues with potential applications in biotechnology and medicine. In this respect, structure and dynamics of polymer brushes made of these copolymers are of great interest. In this work, the near surface dynamics of a p(MEO2MA-co-OEGMA) brush with a height of 250 nm was investigated with neutron spin echo spectroscopy under grazing incidence (GINSES) conditions. The brush dynamics was studied at two penetration depths of the neutrons. An influence of the distance from the confining surface on the collective diffusion was found. For the first time, the experiment demonstrates the feasibility of studying thermal fluctuations of macromolecules at a single planar liquid/solid interface by neutron spin echo spectroscopy under grazing incidence.