Development and Physicochemical Characterization of Modified Polymeric Surfaces for Bacterial Adhesion

Radiation-induced graft polymerization was used to modify the surfaces of polypropylene (PP) sheets for bacterial adhesion. For the experiments, two monomers were mixed: the quaternary ammonium salt (QAS) [2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl]trimethylammonium chloride and acrylic acid (AAc). The PP sheets were activated by electron-beam radiation before the grafting reaction. Different AAc/QAS comonomer mixture ratios (50 : 10, 40 : 20, 30 : 30, 20 : 40, and 10 : 50) were used to determine the degree of grafting and to make the PP surfaces hydrophilic. The graft level increased with an increase in the percentage of AAc in the comonomer mixtures. Synergism was investigated during graft polymerization to quantify the poly(acrylic acid) and poly{[2-(methacryloyloxy) ethyl] trimethylammonium chloride} graft fractions in the resulting graft copolymers. An approximation of the graft fractions was made with an analytical technique based on acid-base volumetric titration. The wettability of the modified surfaces was determined by the measurement of the water contact angles. The surfaces prepared with higher percentages of QAS in the comonomer mixtures had lower contact angles than those prepared with lower percentages of QAS. The presence of oxygen and nitrogen on the modified PP surfaces was investigated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Structural changes in unmodified and modified PP were characterized with differential scanning calorimetry. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 119: 1307-1315, 2011