Surface‐Initiated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization on Poly(Vinylidene Fluoride) Membrane for Antibacterial Ability

Abstract

Surface-active microporous membranes were prepared from the poly(vinylidene fluoride)-graft-poly(2-(2-bromoisobutyryloxy)ethyl acrylate) copolymer (PVDF-g-PBIEA copolymer) by phase inversion in water. The PBIEA side chains could function as initiators for the atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of 2-(N,N-dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate on the membrane surfaces to give rise to the PVDF-g-PBIEA-ar-PDMAEMA membranes. N-alkylation with hexyl bromide and nitromethane gave rise to the quanternized PVDF-g-PBIEA-ar-QPDMAEMA membranes with polycation chains chemically tethered on the membrane surface, including the pore surfaces. The changes in the surface morphology and the surface chemical composition were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The scanning electron microscopy revealed that, in comparison to the pristine PVDF-g-PBIEA membranes, not only could the PVDF-g-PBIEA-ar-QPDMAEMA membranes remove the Gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli but also inhibited the bacterial reproduction on the membranes to a significant extent.

Preparation and characterization of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) based ultrafiltration membranes using nano γ-Al2O3

“…Surface modification and blending techniques are mostly adapted due to their versatile controlling conditions. Surface modification methods include plasma [1][2][3], UV [4][5][6][7], electron beam surface induced grafting polymerization [8][9][10][11], and surface living/controlled radical polymerization [12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Blending methods usually involve some amphiphilic copolymers, requiring to be synthesized elaborately through atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) [19][20][21] or reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization (RAFT) [3,22].…”

Anti-fouling poly(2-hydoxyethyl methacrylate) surface coatings with specific bacteria recognition capabilities

“…It can be surface-initiated on either planar or curved surfaces for several purposes such as thermo- [21] and pH- [22], responsive materials, separative nanofilms of molecularly imprinted polymers [23], adhesive thin layers for polymers in electronics [24], controlled cellular [25] and bacterial adhesion properties [26], to name but a few.…”

Surface Modification by Graft Polymerization

“…The membranes tethered with poly(AAc) macro chain transfer agents, or the living membrane surfaces, could be further functionalized via surface-initiated block copolymerization with N -isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) to obtain PVDF-g-poly(AAc)-b-poly(NIPAAm) MF membranes, which exhibited both pH-and temperature-dependent permeability in aqueous media. This "surface-active" membrane allowed the initiation of atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of functional monomers, such as poly(ethylene glycol) methacryate (PEGMA) (Zhai et al, 2004) and DMAEMA (Zhai et al, 2005), to gain antifouling or antibacterial properties, respectively. This "surface-active" membrane allowed the initiation of atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of functional monomers, such as poly(ethylene glycol) methacryate (PEGMA) (Zhai et al, 2004) and DMAEMA (Zhai et al, 2005), to gain antifouling or antibacterial properties, respectively.…”