A Facile Method for Construction of Antifouling Surfaces by Self-Assembled Polymeric Monolayers of PEG-Silane Copolymers Formed in Aqueous Medium

Abstract

Self-assembled polymeric monolayers (PMs) on Si/SiO2 wafers were prepared in water from a series of random copolymers of poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (PEGMA) and 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate (TMSMA), denoted as poly(TMSMA-r-PEGMA). Four polymers of poly(TMSMA-r-PEGMA) were synthesized by free radical polymerization with a systematic variation of co-monomer feed ratios. Regardless of PEG grafting density in the copolymers, all PMs formed approximately 1 nm-thick film as measured by ellipsometry. However, the PMs with a higher grafting density of PEG resulted in more hydrophilic surfaces in terms of water contact angle. The protein resistance of the PMs was evaluated using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a model protein. Analyses by ellipsometry, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed that the PMs of the copolymers markedly reduced the nonspecific adsorption of proteins compared to the unmodified Si/SiO2 wafers. The study also revealed that the PMs prepared from the copolymers with a higher PEG grafting density were more effective in resisting the nonspecific protein adsorption.