Abstract
Hydroxyapatite (HAp) coating on commercially available polyimide (PI) films in simulated body fluid (SBF) was examined. Aqueous sodium hydroxide treatment of PI films under proper conditions proceeded surface-selective hydrolysis of PI molecules, which resulted in displaying carboxylic acid groups on the film surfaces. These surface-hydrolyzed PI films had ability to induce deposition of minerals having similar characteristics to that of HAp thereon when incubated in 1.5SBF, a solution having 1.5 times higher inorganic ion concentrations than those of SBF. No deposition was observed for the case of unmodified PI films under the same condition. Additional pretreatments with aqueous calcium chloride for the surface-hydrolyzed PI films realized complete surface coverage on the films by thin mineral layers in 1.5SBF. The present process for PI films is simple and low-cost, and can be widely applicable to other substrates of polymers that can generate carboxylic acid groups by alkaline hydrolysis.
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