Modification of Poly(dimethylsiloxane) by Mesostructured Siliceous Films for Constructing Protein-Interactive Surfaces

We investigated the coating process of mesostructured triblock copolymer-tetraethoxysilane (P123-TEOS) and mesoporous silica (MPS) films on a bioinert poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) with the different cross-linker concentrations through an oxygen-plasma treatment to evaluate the mesostructure formation and adsorption ability of proteins (albumin, fibrinogen, gamma-globulin, fetal bovine serum). In the PDMS preparation, the cross-linker concentration affected the polymer network formation and the siliceous layer was formed on the most-surfaces by the plasma treatment. The transparent siliceous films of P123-TEOS and MPS were successfully covered on the cross-linked PDMS without voiding and the coating film thicknesses were ca. 100 nm. The FT-IR spectra indicated that the change from P123-TEOS to MPS occurred with preserving the PDMS chemical bonds by the calcination. Especially, the XRD patterns and nitrogen adsorption and desorption isotherms of the MPS on PDMS indicated the mesostructured film formation with preserving the ordered nanopore structures (BJH pore sizes: 1.6-4.2 nm, BET surface areas: 394-602 m(2)/g). The hydrophobic PDMS surfaces became more wettable by the coating. The adsorption amounts of acidic proteins (albumin, fibrinogen) were changed by the coating. For the fibrinogen, the P123-TEOS on PDMS exhibited the most adsorption sites. Therefore, the bio-interactive properties of the PDMS surfaces were demonstrated based on the coating processes.