Effect of the photoreaction solvent on surface and bulk properties of poly(lactic acid) and poly(hydroxyalkanoate) films

The major objective of this research was to modify the surface properties of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and poly(tiydroxyalkanoate) (PHA) films by using a sequential two-step photografting approach. In step 1, benzophenone was photografted on the film surface and in step 2, hydrophilic monomers acrylamide and acrylic acid were photopolymerized from the film surfaces. Another objective was to study the effect of the reaction solvent in step 2 on surface and bulk properties of these films. ATR-FTIR spectroscopy and water contact angle goniometry were used to characterize the resultant film surfaces. When ethanol was used as the solvent in step 2, there was significant penetration of the monomers into the films, and bulk properties such as toughness and percent elongation at break were drastically affected. The penetration of these monomers into the bulk was characterized using transmission FTIR microspectroscopy. Microtomed sections of the surface-modified films were placed in a diamond compression cell to perform the FTIR microspectroscopic analyses. The observed monomer penetration into the films was successfully reduced by using water instead of ethanol in step 2, and resultant films showed higher toughness and percent elongation at break than films surface-modified using ethanol as a solvent in step 2. (C) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.