Grafting density and antifouling properties of poly[N-(2-hydroxypropyl) methacrylamide] brushes prepared by “grafting to” and “grafting from”

Abstract

Antifouling polymer brushes are widely utilized in biomedical applications to prevent non-specific interactions with biological fluids. They consist of surface-tethered polymer chains and are commonly formed when the chains are...

Antifouling Properties of Poly(2‐Oxazoline)s and Poly(2‐Oxazine)s: Direct Comparison of Polymer‐Coated Surfaces with the Same Coating Parameters

“…[ 21–23 ] The grafting proceeded under good solvent conditions, using excluded volume effects to prevent tight packing of polymer chains within layers. [ 24 ] Since the grafting‐to process under a good solvent is one of the most widely used modifications in various research fields, this approach gives us the opportunity to critically compare our results with findings previously published by other groups working in this area.…”

Recent Advances in Antifouling Surface Polymer Brushes

“…The surface grafting density of polymer brushes is an important parameter that can significantly impact the chain conformation of surface polymer brushes. For a given molecular weight, as the grafting density increases the polymer brushes exhibit conformational changes from a pancakelike structure at a low grafting density, to a mushroomlike structure at a moderate grafting density, and finally to an extended brush structure at a high grafting density. ,, In general, polymer brushes with a higher grafting density adopt a stretched chain conformation and adopt the formation of a stable hydration layer, which increases the barrier for protein adsorption and accordingly results in a continuously improved antifouling performance. ,,,− For example, Wang compared the antifouling properties of PHPMA brushes with different grafting densities . The polymer brushes with a higher grafting density of 0.18 chain/nm 2 demonstrated 5–8 times higher efficacy in resisting protein adsorption compared with the surface polymer brushes with lower grafting densities (0.02–0.05 chain/nm 2 ).…”

Antifouling polymers for nanomedicine and surfaces: recent advances

“…The same research group continued to carry out another comparative study to understand the efficacy of the “ grafting-to ” (GT) and “ grafting-from ” (GF) methods. 148 They first synthesized (poly(HPMA)) brushes of comparable composition and molar mass by the GT and GF methods using RAFT polymerization (Scheme 30). Notably, the GF polymer brushes were able to suppress fouling by an order of magnitude better than the GT polymer brushes due to the much higher grafting density achieved in the former method.…”