The microscopic distribution of hydrophilic polymers in interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) of medical grade silicone

POLYMER

卷:224

Article

Smith, Gregory N.^1,2  Brok, Erik²  Schmiele, Martin²  Mortensen, Kell²  Bouwman, Wim G.³  Duif, Chris P.³  Hassenkam, Tue⁴  Alm, Martin⁵  Thomsen, Peter⁵  Arleth, Lise² 

[1] Rutherford Appleton Lab, ISIS Neutron & Muon Source Sci & Technol Facil Co, Didcot OX11 0QX, Oxon, England

[2] Univ Copenhagen, Niels Bohr Inst, Univ Pk 5, DK-2100 Copenhagen O, Denmark

[3] Delft Univ Technol, Fac Appl Sci, NL-2629 JB Delft, Netherlands

[4] Univ Copenhagen, Dept Chem, Univ Pk 5, DK-52100 Copenhagen O, Denmark

[5] BioModics ApS, DK-2610 Rodovre, Denmark

关键词: Interpenetrating polymer network;    Neutron scattering;    Atomic force microscopy;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.polymer.2021.123671

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

By introducing hydrophilic polymers into silicone medical devices, highly beneficial biomedical properties can be realized. An established solution to introduce hydrophilic polymers is to form an interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) by performing the hydrogel synthesis in the presence of silicone swollen in supercritical carbon dioxide. The precise distribution of the two polymers is not known, and determining this is the goal of this study. Neutron scattering and microscopy were used to determine the distribution of the hydrophilic guest polymer. Atomic force microscopy revealed that the important length scale on the surface of these materials is 10?100 nm, and spin-echo small-angle neutron scattering (SESANS) on IPNs submerged in D2O revealed structures of the same scale within the interior and enabled quantification of their size. SESANS with hydration by D2O proved to be the only scattering technique that could determine the structure of the bulk of these types of materials, and it should be used as an important tool for characterizing polymer medical devices.

【 授权许可】

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