Epitaxial growth of polymers during solution polymerization of monomers (Polymerization-Induced Epitaxy, PIE) is described. In particular, we report on the observations that (1) PIE can be induced by many kinds of polymerization reactions, (2) PIE occurs even on entropically driven reaction, and (3) anchoring of an amorphous polymer segment by PIE of block copolymer. Finally, we introduce a positive feedback model between polymerization reaction and epitaxial adsorption to explain the PIE mechanism.
