Intelligent Polymer Thin Films and Coatings for Drug Delivery

Low-Fouling, Biospecific Films Prepared by the Continuous Assembly of Polymers

“…[1][2][3][4] For example, polymeric thin films have been widely used as coatings for biomaterials and biomedical devices as the film composition, functionality, structure (i.e., thickness and density) and mechanical properties can be tailored depending on the selection of polymers and film fabrication stratergy. 1,[5][6][7][8] The development of bioactive surfaces aimed at promoting specific interactions while minimizing non-specific interactions (i.e., low-fouling) are central to many biomedical applications, including drug delivery, 9,10 implantable devices, [11][12][13] tissue engineering, 14,15 biosensors, 16 diagnostics, 17 and protein purification. 18 Of particular importance is the interaction and adsorption of proteins on surfaces when in contact with biological environments, which ultimately governs the biofunctionality of the material and influences cellular interaction, structure and function.…”

“…Over the past few decades, research in biomedical science has focused on developing functional material interfaces that are biocompatible and that can be engineered for specific biointeractions. − For example, polymeric thin films have been widely used as coatings for biomaterials and biomedical devices as the film composition, functionality, structure (i.e., thickness and density) and mechanical properties can be tailored depending on the selection of polymers and film fabrication strategy. ,− The development of bioactive surfaces aimed at promoting specific interactions while minimizing nonspecific interactions (i.e., low-fouling) are central to many biomedical applications, including drug delivery, , implantable devices, − tissue engineering, , biosensors, diagnostics, and protein purification . Of particular importance is the interaction and adsorption of proteins on surfaces when in contact with biological environments, which ultimately governs the biofunctionality of the material and influences cellular interaction, structure, and function. , As a result, significant effort has been devoted to developing surface coating and modification approaches toward low-fouling bioactive surfaces. ,,− For example, both the grafting-to and -from approaches have been extensively used to prepare low fouling surfaces from hydrophilic and zwitterionic materials, with the low-fouling ability of the surfaces being closely correlated with their hydration layer near the surface. , The strength of this surface hydration is primarily related to the physiochemical properties of the polymers and their surface packing, including film thickness, packing density and chain conformation .…”

Dewetting Effects in Poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) Thin Films on Poly(3-hexylthiophene) Substrates

“…Polymer thin films are nowadays an essential part of many devices in different technological fields, like antireflective coatings, organic electronics, sensors, biotechnology, aesthetics, and so forth. There are various methods for preparing polymer thin films and membranes, like dip coating, spray coating, solvent casting, or spin coating.…”