Polyvinyl chloride surface coated with polymer brushes using a chain‐transfer reaction for enhanced fouling resistance

Abstract

AbstractThis study reports coating negatively charged polymer brushes covalently onto the surface of polyvinylchloride (PVC) using a simple conventional surface free‐radical polymerization technique with help of a chain transfer agent. The coated surfaces were assessed with contact angle, protein adsorption, cell adhesion and bacterial adhesion. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) and bovine fibrinogen (BFG) were used for protein adsorption evaluation. Mouse fibroblast (NIH‐3 T3) cells and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) were used to assess cell and bacterial adhesion. Results show that the surface modified with all the attached polymer brushes exhibited significantly reduced contact angle, protein adsorption, and cell as well as bacterial adhesion, among which the negatively charged polymers showed the extremely low values in all the tests. The negatively charged polymer shows its contact angle at 4.6° as compared to 70° for original PVC. Its BSA, BFG, 3 T3 adhesion and P. aeruginosa adhesion were 93%, 84%, 92%, and 95% lower than original PVC. Furthermore, the PVC surface coated with negatively charged polymer brushes exhibited a hydrogel‐like property. The results indicate placing acrylic acids using a simple surface‐initiated free‐radical polymerization with help of a chain transfer agent onto PVC surface and then converting the acids to negative charges can be an affective and efficient route for fouling resistant applications.