Study on surface structure and properties of PMMA/PEG copolymer coatings

Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA)/polyethylene glycol (PEG) copolymers were synthesised by the radical grafted polymerisation technique under mild conditions with the PEG molar content of 8, 10 and 12% respectively. Prepared by spin coating method, the surface structures of PMMA/PEG copolymer coatings were studied by atomic force microscopy. It was shown that the copolymer coating surfaces had island-like microphase separation structure, in which the columnar PEG phase dispersed on the PMMA matrix. With increasing of the PEG contents, the surface island pattern changed in size. In addition, the antifouling performances of the PMMA/PEG coatings were tested with bovine serum albumin (BSA) and algae absorption experiments. All coatings prepared in this study exhibited good resistance to BSA protein and nitzschia closterium minutissima.