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Ageing properties of polyurethane methacrylate and off‐stoichiometry thiol‐ene polymers after nitrogen and argon plasma treatment
Author(s) -
Chen Tiam Foo,
Siow Kim Shyong,
Ng Pei Yuen,
Nai Mui Hoon,
Lim Chwee Teck,
Yeop Majlis Burhanuddin
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.44107
Subject(s) - puma , contact angle , polyurethane , argon , methacrylate , materials science , polymer chemistry , polymer , nitrogen , chemical engineering , biocompatibility , wetting , biochip , chemistry , organic chemistry , nanotechnology , composite material , monomer , biochemistry , engineering , gene
Proprietary mixture of polyurethane methacrylate (PUMA) and off‐stoichiometry thiol‐ene (OSTE‐80) are evaluated as two possible polymeric substrates to prototype microfluidic biochips. Because of their lack of biocompatibility, PUMA and OSTE‐80 are modified by argon (Ar) or nitrogen (N 2 ) plasma treatment to introduce nitrogen moieties that are highly polar and conducive for cell attachment and growth. XPS and water contact angle measurement show that these nitrogen groups are relatively stable in the plasma‐treated PUMA and OSTE‐80 in spite of the hydrophobic recovery and volatilization of nitrogen moieties during air ageing for 15 days. This stability can be attributed to their high degree crosslinking that is reflected by the increase of elastic modulus of PUMA and OSTE‐80 during their air ageing. These results show that Ar and N 2 plasma‐treated PUMA and OSTE‐80 possess the necessary physical and chemical properties to be evaluated further to develop microfluidic biochips for biological applications. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133 , 44107.