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Retention of poly( N ‐isopropylacrylamide) thin films on polycarbonate via polymer interdiffusion
Author(s) -
Zhang Newby Bimin,
Malekzadeh Elham,
Alghunaim Abdullah
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2642-4169
pISSN - 2642-4150
DOI - 10.1002/pol.20200261
Subject(s) - poly(n isopropylacrylamide) , polycarbonate , lower critical solution temperature , polymer , materials science , annealing (glass) , chemical engineering , contact angle , polymer chemistry , thermoresponsive polymers in chromatography , composite material , copolymer , chemistry , chromatography , high performance liquid chromatography , reversed phase chromatography , engineering
This study explored the possibility of polymer interdiffusion for retaining thermoresponsive poly( N ‐isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAAm) on polycarbonate (PC). It was hypothesized that interdiffusion could be facilitated either by increasing the annealing temperature or by treating PC using air plasma (AP) and ultra‐violet ozone (UVO). The results showed that increasing annealing temperature only moderately improved pNIPAAm retention. Treating PC with AP led to an increase in surface‐active groups and a greatly enhanced retention of pNIPAAm. UVO treatment, however, severely damaged the PC layer with no noticeable enhancement on pNIPAAm retention. The retained pNIPAAm films on PC exhibited thermoresponsive behavior as evidenced by water contact angle and desired cell attachment/detachment behaviors. These results illustrate the simplicity of using polymer interdiffusion to successfully retain pNIPAAm films on a polymer, and the resulting substrates would be less expensive and more versatile than those retained on brittle supports (e.g., glass) for applications that require resilient thermoresponsive substrates.