Hydrophilicity improvement of silicone rubber by interpenetrating polymer network formation in the proximal layer of polymer surface

A novel method composed of an interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) formation reaction in aqueous solution was developed to improve the hydrophilicity of silicone rubber (SR) substrate. This solution phase method is compatible, simple, and convenient for some sensitive biomedical applications of SR devices because of using water as reaction solvent instead of harmful chemicals. In this work, a sequential interpenetrating polymer network formation in the proximal layer of SR surface, using poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA), as the second network was conducted so that led to actually surface modification resulting in an improved hydrophilicity. The modified surfaces were characterized by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), contact angle measurement, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to assess the wettability, chemical composition and morphology of the surface modified PDMS. The results indicated that the surface modification method offered a novel and facile approach to improve the hydrophilicity of SR without altering its bulk properties. This method could be suitable for biomedical applications because of using water as a monomer solvent and polymerization medium.