Surface Modification of Polymers

Abstract

Many applications require polymeric materials to be in contact with other materials or with specific environments. In this respect, the surface and interface properties of polymers cannot be overemphasized. This article describes, reviews, and updates the three most common surface modification techniques for synthetic polymers, viz, (i) plasma modification, (ii) surface grafting and graft polymerization, and (iii) chemical modification and reaction. Plasma modification involves surface energetic interactions, as well as plasma polymerization and deposition. Surface modification via grafting and graft polymerization generally involves the “grafting to” and “grafting from” approaches. The latter approach has been made even more versatile by the development of surface‐initiated controlled radical polymerizations in the late 1990s. Chemical modification of polymer surfaces includes ozone treatment, chemical and electrochemical redox reactions, sulfonation and halogenation, photochemical reactions, biologically influenced modification, and layer‐by‐layer coating. Finally, the effects of physical structures of modified surfaces are briefly discussed.

Plasma Processing of Low Vapor Pressure Liquids to Generate Functional Surfaces

“…Furthermore, those PEG coatings lack stability, especially in aqueous environments, which is a big disadvantage for many applications [55,67,68]. Low-pressure plasma processes are favorable with their ability to covalently bond molecular chains of liquid PEG to a surface [64,69]. However, the plasma may cause fragmentation of the PEG molecules, which can thus loose their hydrophilic properties [68,70].…”

Surface Modification of Biopolymers by Argon Plasma and Thermal Treatment

“…In case of reactive plasma modification the electrical field causes acceleration of free electrons and the kinetic energy of electrons is sufficiently high to cause ionization, fragmentation and excitation processes of gas molecules. Thus, the activated atoms and molecules generate a highly reactive gas mixture, which is able to react with the exposed surface 16. Plasma exposure causes four main effects that occur during the plasma modification process itself:15 (i) surface cleaning, (ii) surface ablation or etching, (iii) cross‐linking and (iv) modification of chemical properties.…”

Twine selection is essential for successful hatchery cultivation of Saccharina latissima, seeded with either meiospores or juvenile sporophytes

“…The surface modification of polymers using corona is an effective method to improve the bioadhesive attachment of S. latissima (Kerrison et al 2019). The high frequency electrical discharge from corona alters the chemical and microtopographical structure creating new polar bonding points and lowering the θ w (Strobel et al 2003;Kang and Neoh 2009). In this study, corona treatment leads to a substantial improvement of 15-34% in the final yield achieved from twine of PA, PES and PP, making them similar to the yield of 4.7 ± 0.5 kg achieved by PVA.…”