ABSTRACT
Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) is a typical aromatic polyester with excellent properties, such as mechanical strength, permeability to gases, transparency, chemical resistance, and moderate biocompatibility [1]. This polymer is widely applied in the textile industry, packaging, high-strength fibers, filtration membranes, automobile parts, biomedical field, and others. However, the unsatisfactory biocompatibility and functionality of PET have limited its use in some industrial and medical fields, especially in biomedical device and filtration membrane applications. For example, Dacron [poly(ethylene terephthalate)] has been successfully used to fabricate largediameter (>6 mm) vascular substitutes in wide clinical applications [2], but PET for small-diameter (≤6 mm) applications such as coronary artery bypass grafting has been extensively unsuccessful mainly due to early graft occlusion [3,4]. Moreover, the infection is common to this kind of cardiovascular implants, which can lead to significant morbidity and mortality [5]. These
CONTENTS
5.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 91 5.2 Preparation of Reactive Functional Groups on PET Surfaces ............... 92 5.3 Preparation of Polymer Brushes on PET Surfaces ................................... 94
5.3.1Graft to Polymer Brushes on PET Surfaces .................................. 94 5.3.2Graft from Polymer Brushes on PET Surfaces ............................. 97
5.3.2.1 UV-Induced Surface Radical Polymerization ............... 97 5.3.2.2 Surface-Initiated ATRP................................................... 104
References ............................................................................................................. 111
are because many biological molecules have a tendency to physically adsorb onto a solid substrate without specific receptor recognition interactions (nonspecific adsorption), while solid substrate contacts with biological systems [6]. Clearly, the surface structures and properties play a major role in nonspecific adsorption of material surfaces, as far as applications to biomaterials are concerned. Many biological nonspecific adsorptions are triggered by chemical structure, topography, and flexibility of the materials near the surface, such as protein, cell, and bacterial adsorption, subsequently causing blood coagulation, complement activation, inflammation, biodegradation, infection, and biofilm [7-10], resulting in implantable device failure because of the biofouling [11-14]. Thus, nonfouling surfaces of materials is of great importance for biomedical implants, textile fibers, filtration membranes, food packaging, and so on, due to their functionalities being drastically reduced by this type of contamination. To date, numerous strategies focusing on surface modification without affecting their bulk properties have been developed to inhibit or prevent nonspecific adsorption on PET surfaces.
