Surface modification of ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene by plasma-induced in-situ grafting with vinyl triethoxysilane

Ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) is an excellent material with high performance, but it is very difficult to covalently introduce functional groups on its surface owing to its inherently inert structure, which constrains its further application. In this study, vinyl triethoxysilane (VTEOS) containing hydrolysable alkoxyl groups was in situ grafted on UHMWPE by air plasma treatment. The plasma treatment conditions for VTEOS grafting were optimized. The structure of the modified UHMWPE was characterized with FTIR and XPS. The relatively high VTEOS content was obtained when the treating conditions were about 20 W, 125 Pa for 10 min. And FTIR results showed that the grafted structure on the surface was stable for long time duration in the ambient environment. After the treatment, the roughness of the surface increased and the water contact angle of the modified sample dropped to 47.5 degrees from 92.8 degrees of the unmodified one. TGA and XRD results indicated that plasma treatment would not change the bulk structure of UHMWPE greatly. Cell culture experiments showed that fibroblasts on the modified samples had notably high viability and proliferation rate with good adhesion shape. Hence, it might be an effective method to improve the surface properties of UHMWPE for biomedical applications by plasma-induced in-situ grafting with VTEOS. (c) 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 106A: 321-332, 2018.