Table 4.

Benefits and limitations of UCST exhibiting brushes grafted onto the surface of flat substrates.

Benefits	Limitations
• Adaptive surface properties can be obtained in a resource-efficient manner by a nanoscopic polymeric coating. • Often, a shift in Tc UCST to higher temperatures is observed for ionic UCST polymers in a sterically restrictive brush structure, while the Tc UCST of non-ionic polymers more closely resembles that of free polymer chains. • Wetting of a surface can be modulated by temperature. UCST based systems demonstrate reproducible and in some cases switching characteristics superior to well-known LCST systems. In addition, the heat required for a UCST transition can usually be provided more easily, than the cooling which is required for LCST based coatings. • Controlled cell adhesion can be obtained with UCST exhibiting coatings. • Anchoring UCST-type polymers to surfaces can lead to adaptive nanostructuring in the form of microdomains, e.g., as pinned micelles in the presence of multivalent ions	• Frequently, a broadening of the UCST phase transition is observed due to the steric constraints of the grafted polymer chains. • A temperature-dependent characterization of grafted polymers is usually more challenging than the analysis of free polymer chains in solution.