Friendship and colleagueship go long way. During the past one and a half decades I have been privileged to collaborate with Orlando Rojas on numerous research projects pertaining to modifying substrate properties of materials, tailoring properties of nonwovens, and others. In the presentation I will discuss a few research “vignettes” all centering on altering intrinsically hydrophobic properties of polyolefins using adsorbed amphiphilic polymers. More specifically, we use denatured protein molecules to produce functional primer layers on top of hydrophobic coating s (i.e., hydrophobically-modified silicon wafers or polyolefin fibers). In one example we employ protein layers coated on top of polypropylene nonwovens to anchor electrostatically silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs). We test the antibacterial activity of the modified surfaces against gram negative bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli) and observe excellent antibacterial activity due to the presence of Ag NPs. We also demonstrate that primers comprising denature proteins can be employed as substrates for functional polymer assemblies that are generated by surface-initiated polymerization. We grow polymer grafts comprising poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) by atom transfer radical polymerization and modify the pendent HEMA group using post-polymerization reaction involving with semifluorinated surfactants of various lengths. We demonstrate that the type and areal density of the fluorinated surfactants within the brush facilitates modulation of the surface composition of the topmost layer of the amphiphilic coating and in turn its wettability and its antifouling capability.

Celebrating Orlando (Rojas) in Orlando (Florida)

2019 Spring National Meeting

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.