Pure polymer materials cannot be employed for high-performance applications in every industry due to their poor performance. In addition, modification of the substrate surface is essential for many applications. Alfa Chemistry has a professional nano-coating technology that can functionalize polymers to make them hydrophilic, oleophobic, or hydrophobic. Alfa Chemistry's easy-to-apply coating treatment improves the performance of almost all products using polymers. We'll functionalize your polymer surface together!
Learn About Our Polymer Surface Modification Methods
There are two types of surface modification approaches for polymer substrates: physical and chemical. In general, chemical grafting is more advantageous than physical methods, because the grafted chain is covalently attached to the substrate's surface, preventing desorption and ensuring long-term chemical stability. Furthermore, the polymer brush chemically bonded to the surface has high adhesive strength due to its strong, selective, specific, and easy reactivity. Alfa Chemistry uses a chemical surface modification method to attach polymer brushes to polymer biomaterial substrates.
Fig 1. Schematic depiction of different strategies of chemical grafting onto surfaces: A) “grafting-to,” B) “grafting-from,” and C) “graftingthrough”. (Sun W, et al. 2020)
Chemical surface modification methods based on grafting can be divided into "graft to", "graft from" and "graft through" methods, which are usually used for covalent grafting of polymers. In the "graft to" method, the polymer chain whose end group is converted reacts with the functional group of the substrate and forms a grafted polymer chain. In the "graft from" method, the polymer chains propagate from the initiator attached to the surface. In the "graft through" method, the polymer chains propagate from the double bonds attached to the surface.
The advantages of graft-based chemical surface modification methods include:
The grafting of the polymer brush on the surface of the substrate provides a practical tool for surface modification and functionalization. In order not to affect the mechanical properties of a given substrate, modification of the substrate with a grafted polymer brush can significantly affect surface properties such as friction, adhesion, wettability, and biocompatibility. In addition, the real importance of this modification is that it provides a way to enhance the surface properties while maintaining the properties of the original matrix.
Recently, we have also introduced many functional methods for surface modification of polymer biomaterials for biomedical applications, such as chemical grafting, plasma-induced graft polymerization, radiation-induced graft polymerization, ozone graft polymerization, and light-induced Graft polymerization. Traditional solvent-based grafting typically necessitates particular techniques under extreme circumstances, which might make them difficult to use. Alfa Chemistry has established a simple solvent-free grafting approach that produces ultra-low biofouling and biocompatible surfaces, and this technology outperforms several standard solvent-based grafting methods in terms of surface functionalities.
Why Choose Alfa Chemistry Custom Coatings Service on Polymer Substrates?
We are professionals in surface modification and have dedicated ourselves to the research and production of various surface chemical technologies for changing polymers since our inception. Our functional coatings are thin, easy to apply, safe and non-toxic, and environmentally friendly. Thousands of coating protection applications are in the works, and we've put in hundreds of thousands of hours to tackle the problems with protective surfaces. If you're having trouble with a problem, we'll work together with you to develop solutions that are tailored to your product's specific requirements. Please get in touch to see how we can assist!
Reference
- Sun W, et al. (2020). “Chemical Surface Modification of Polymeric Biomaterials for Biomedical Applications.” Macromol. Rapid Commun. 41: 1900430.
