posted on 2016-02-24, 00:00authored byBinbin Xu, Chun Feng, Jianhua Hu, Ping Shi, Guangxin Gu, Lei Wang, Xiaoyu Huang
Surfaces modified with amphiphilic
polymers can dynamically alter their physicochemical properties in
response to changes of their environmental conditions; meanwhile,
amphiphilic polymer coatings with molecular hydrophilic and hydrophobic
patches, which can mitigate biofouling effectively, are being actively
explored as advanced coatings for antifouling materials. Herein, a
series of well-defined amphiphilic asymmetric polymer brushes containing
hetero side chains, hydrophobic polystyrene (PS) and hydrophilic poly(ethylene
glycol) (PEG), was employed to prepare uniform thin films by spin-casting.
The properties of these films were investigated by water contact angle,
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscopy (AFM),
and quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). AFM showed smooth surfaces
for all films with the roughness less than 2 nm. The changes in water
contact angle and C/O ratio (XPS) evidenced the enrichment of PEG
or PS chains at film surface after exposed to selective solvents,
indicative of stimuli- responsiveness. The adsorption of proteins
on PEG functionalized surface was quantified by QCM and the results
verified that amphiphilic polymer brush films bearing PEG chains could
lower or eliminate protein-material interactions and resist to protein
adsorption. Cell adhesion experiments were performed by using HaCaT
cells and it was found that polymer brush films possess good antifouling
ability.