Polymer surface modification, advantages

The concentration of a small molecule reactant inside the polymer coils can be lower than outside when one uses a poor solvent for the polymer. This results in lower local and overall reaction rates. In the extreme, a poor solvent results in reaction occurring only on the surfaces of a polymer. Surface reactions are advantageous for applications requiring modification of surface properties without affecting the bulk physical properties of a polymer, such as modification of surface dyeability, biocompatibility, adhesive and frictional behavior, and coatability [Ward and McCarthy, 1989]. 

Amylose brushes (a layer consisting of polymer chains dangling in a solvent with one end attached to a surface is frequently referred to as a polymer brush) on spherical and planar surfaces can have several advantageous uses, such as detoxification of surfaces etc. The modification of surfaces with thin polymer films is widely used to tailor surface properties such as wettability, biocompatibility, corrosion resistance, and friction [142-144]. The advantage of polymer brushes over other surface modification methods like self-assembled monolayers is their mechanical and chemical robustness, coupled with a high degree of synthetic flexibility towards the introduction of a variety of functional groups. 

Some polymers have a specific set of bulk properties that make them ideal for a certain application, but cannot be used because the surface properties are inappropriate. For example, a material may have excellent elasticity but cannot be used in cardiovascular devices because the polymer surface triggers blood clotting. Alternatively, another polymer may have excellent surface biological compatibility but is too brittle for a cardiovascular application. An answer to this problem, like many others, is to select a polymer for its advantageous bulk properties and then carry out property modification reactions on the polymer surface without affecting the bulk material. 

High density polyethylene (HDPE) is used to make automotive fuel tanks as is an alternative material to steel. HDPE has many advantages over steel, especially the design freedom to utilise unused space and low weight. However, the shortcoming of HDPE is its permeability to gasoline and methanol so, therefore, it cannot maintain the right emission standards. Since the permeability of the liquid in the polymer depends both on the nature of the bulk as well as the surface of the polymer, the surface modification of this... 

The hydrophobicity of the surface prevents the wetting by tear and tends to expose dry surface of a contact lens. Therefore, rapid dehydration of the corneal tissues could occur, which could cause the damage of corneal epithelium. However, this explanation seems to be oversimplified in light of the adsorption of protein, which makes a hydrophobic surface wettable by tear fluid, as described in Chapter 26. Moreover, the highly hydrophobic surface characteristic of silicone rubber tends to encourage the deposition of protein and mucus of the tear on the surface of the lens. Lipids and lipid-soluble materials follow the same track and eventually penetrate into the bulk phase of the contact lens. Because of these undesirable factors, the use of silicone contact lenses of various chemical compositions and with surface treatments has not been successful but rather disastrous because of the interfacial characteristics of silicone contact lens on the cornea, which cannot be oflfset by these efforts. It indicates that more profound surface modification to cope with the problems rather than mere surface treatment is needed in capitalizing on the advantageous bulk properties of silicone polymers. 

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