Nano-fillers can be used to enhance the mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties of polymer-based composite materials.  While much is known about the properties of inorganic nano-fillers such as silica, little research has been directed toward the investigation of properties of organic nano-fillers such as proteins or enzymes.  In this work, polymer-functionalized proteins (BSA-PEG with PEG molecular weights of 2000, 5000, and 10,000 g/mol and varied grafting densities) have been synthesized and characterized using MALDI-TOF and Dynamic Light Scattering.  Functionalization was evaluated, and the grafting efficiencies were found to closely agree with results from a theoretical model.  Thin films of the functionalized proteins were cast and nano-indentation and AFM were used to determine the relationship between graft architecture (molecular weight and grafting density) and the mechanical properties of the films such as hardness, toughness, and elastic modulus.

Characterization and modeling of polymer-conjugated enzyme and membrane systems

248th National Meeting (2014)

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