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Crosslinking Polymer Brushes with Ethylene Glycol-Containing Segments: Influence on Physicochemical and Antifouling Properties.
Journal article

Crosslinking Polymer Brushes with Ethylene Glycol-Containing Segments: Influence on Physicochemical and Antifouling Properties.

  • Dehghani ES Laboratory for Surface Science and Technology, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich , Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 5, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
  • Spencer ND Laboratory for Surface Science and Technology, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich , Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 5, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
  • Ramakrishna SN Laboratory for Surface Science and Technology, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich , Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 5, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
  • Benetti EM Laboratory for Surface Science and Technology, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich , Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 5, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
  • 2016-09-20
Published in:
  • Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids. - 2016
Spectroscopy
Electrochemistry
General Materials Science
Surfaces and Interfaces
Condensed Matter Physics
English The introduction of different types and concentrations of crosslinks within poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) brushes influences their interfacial, physicochemical properties, ultimately governing their adsorption of proteins. PHEMA brushes and brush-hydrogels were synthesized by surface-initiated, atom-transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) from HEMA, with and without the addition of di(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (DEGDMA) or tetra(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (TEGDMA) as crosslinkers. Linear (pure PHEMA) brushes show high hydration and low modulus and additionally provide an efficient barrier against nonspecific protein adsorption. In contrast, brush-hydrogels are stiffer and less hydrated, and the presence of crosslinks affects the entropy-driven, conformational barrier that hinders the surface interaction of biomolecules with brushes. This leads to the physisorption of proteins at low concentrations of short crosslinks. At higher contents of DEGDMA or in the presence of longer TEGDMA-based crosslinks, brush-hydrogels recover their antifouling properties due to the increase in interfacial water association by the higher concentration of ethylene glycol (EG) units.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/101049
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