Controlled swelling of polymer brushes

Very long chains with molecular weights up to 600000 can be grafted on a solid surface. We discuss here some specific features of these grafted systems: a) the climbing of a liquid along a vertical plane covered with long grafted polymer chains: because of a minute difference in chemical potential, the brushes can show color variations over an altitude ∼ 1 cm! b) swelling of brushes by elongated solvent molecules: this type of solvent can induce swelling in the isotropic phase, but when they become cooperatively ordered (nematic) we usually expect a collapse of the brush.