Enhancing clustering efficiency and kinetics

A flow cell, comprising:

• a substrate;
• a plurality of at least two different primers;
• and
• a co-polymer including:
• a plurality of a first monomer including a terminal functional group, wherein at least some of the plurality of at least two different primers are respectively attached to at least some of the terminal functional groups;
• a plurality of a second monomer including a second functional group that is different from the terminal functional group, and that is selected from the group consisting of a phenyl group, methoxy propyl, glycosyl, vinyl pyrrolidone, and an imidazole group;
• and
• a plurality of a third monomer that is different from the first and second monomers.

A method for improving sequencing metrics, comprising:

• pre-treating a flow cell including a primer set grafted to a polymeric hydrogel by:
• introducing water, a basic buffer having a pH ranging from 8 to 11, a high salt buffer, formamide, or isopropyl alcohol to the flow cell;
• increasing the flow cell to a temperature ranging from about 25° C. to about 80° C.;
• holding the temperature for a time ranging from about 5 minutes to about 2 hours;
• and
• then amplifying a library template strand using the grafted primer set.