Facile creation of biointerface on commodity plastic surface by combination of atmospheric plasma and reactive polymer coating

In this study, we examined the construction of biointerfaces on a commodity plastic surface using the non-equilibrium atmospheric pressure low frequency plasma (LF plasma) and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) macromonomers with different terminal functional groups. The surface of polypropylene (PP) was spin coated with poly(4-chloromethylstyrene) (PCMS) followed by PEG macromonomers and irradiated with LF plasma. The chemical immobilization of PEG proceeded rapidly and mostly completed within 30 s, which was confirmed from the contact angle measurements. It is interesting to note that the surface properties were remarkably different by the end group of PEG macromonomers used in this study. Monoacrylated PEG macromonomer-treated substrate exhibited high anti-biofouling property whereas dimethacrylated end PEG did not show anti-biofouling property. This method is simple and applicable for constructing PEG-based biointerface on a variety of commodity plastics.