No abstract

This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Abstract Recently, responsive surfaces have attracted attention due to their potential applications. Reported research have studied the deposition of environmentally responsive particles on different surfaces, qualitatively tested their response to environmental conditions and studied their possible applications. In this work, novel fluorescent temperature-sensitive nanoparticles were synthesized using a surfactant free emulsion polymerization technique: poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-5% vinyl cinnamate) (p(NIPAM)5%VC). The new particles were characterized using dynamic light scattering and fluorescence spectroscopy. A novel sensitive method for the quantitative analysis of p(NIPAM) 5% VC using fluorescence spectroscopy was developed to determine the concentration of nanoparticle dispersions. This was further used to quantitatively determine the mass of nanoparticles deposited per unit area of glass pre-treated with acid, glass pre-treated with base, quartz, stainless steel, gold and teflon at 25°C and 60°C. Factors affecting the adsorption/desorption of the nanoparticles were studied, including the effect of substrate surface charge, surface roughness (using atomic force microscopy, AFM), hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity and the temperature at which the adsorption/desorption experiments were carried out. The results show that the effect of surface charge is the most significant, followed by that of surface roughness and temperature. Meanwhile, the influence of the hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity of the surface on the adsorption/desorption of nanoparticles appears to be far less significant than the previously mentioned factors.Keywords: fluorescent p(NIPAM), vinyl cinnamate, quantitative particle deposition, surface charge and surface roughness.