Two liquid adsorptive entrapment of a pluronic polymer into the surface of polyaniline films

Review paper: Progress in the Field of Conducting Polymers for Tissue Engineering Applications

This review focuses on one of the most exciting applications area of conjugated conducting polymers, which is tissue engineering. Strategies used for the biocompatibility improvement of this class of polymers (including biomolecules’ entrapment or covalent grafting) and also the integrated novel technologies for smart scaffolds generation such as micropatterning, electrospinning, self-assembling are emphasized. These processing alternatives afford the electroconducting polymers nanostructures, the most appropriate forms of the materials that closely mimic the critical features of the natural extracellular matrix. Due to their capability to electronically control a range of physical and chemical properties, conducting polymers such as polyaniline, polypyrrole, and polythiophene and/or their derivatives and composites provide compatible substrates which promote cell growth, adhesion, and proliferation at the polymer—tissue interface through electrical stimulation. The activities of different types of cells on these materials are also presented in detail. Specific cell responses depend on polymers surface characteristics like roughness, surface free energy, topography, chemistry, charge, and other properties as electrical conductivity or mechanical actuation, which depend on the employed synthesis conditions. The biological functions of cells can be dramatically enhanced by biomaterials with controlled organizations at the nanometer scale and in the case of conducting polymers, by the electrical stimulation. The advantages of using biocompatible nanostructures of conducting polymers (nanofibers, nanotubes, nanoparticles, and nanofilaments) in tissue engineering are also highlighted.

Surface modification and functionalization through the self-assembled monolayer and graft polymerization

The modification of a surface at the molecular level with precise control of the building blocks generates an integrated molecular system. This field has progressed rapidly in recent years through the use of self-assembled monolayer (SAM) interfaces. Recent developments on surface-initiated chemical reactions, functionalization, and graft polymerization on SAM interfaces are emphasized in the present review. A number of surface modifications by grafting are reviewed. The grafting of polyaniline on a glass surface, previously modified with a silane self-assembled monolayer (SAM), is examined in detail for both planar and 3-D systems, such as fibers, nanoparticles, and even polymer patterned surfaces. We also discuss the graft polymerization of water-soluble polymers on the surface of silicon nanoparticles, which generate stable aqueous colloidal solutions and have numerous applications. Finally, we compare and review some surface-modification techniques on the surfaces of polymers, such as two-solvent entrapment, polymer blending, and chemical grafting, which improve their biocompatibility.

Grafting of poly(ethylene oxide) to the surface of polyaniline films through a chlorosulfonation method and the biocompatibility of the modified films

Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) could be grafted on the surface of polyaniline (PANI) films by chlorosulfonating the films with chlorosulfonic acid followed by reacting the modified films with PEO in a pyridine solution. The modified PANI films were examined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and water droplet contact angles. The surface of the PEO grafted to hydrophobic PANI films became hydrophilic and the amounts of bovine serum albumin and human blood plasma platelet adsorbed onto it were decreased by more than 80%. For comparison purposes, and because the water wetting angle can be used as a measure of biocompatibility, wetting angle experiments have been also carried out for Pluronic triblock copolymer grafted to PANI and PEO or Pluronic molecules entrapped on the surfaces of PANI films. PANI was selected as substrate because one can easily change its surface properties by PEO grafting and because being conductive can be used as a sensor.