Nonfouling Polymer Brushes via Surface-Initiated, Two-Component Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization

A significant challenge in the field of biomaterials is the nonspecific adsorption of proteins. It has been suggested that overall neutral materials composed of mixed charge components present protein-resistant properties. This work describes the development of a novel nonfouling polymer brush formed from a surface-initiated, two-component atom transfer radical polymerization. The polymer brushes are composed of varying mixtures of positively and negatively charged monomers depending on the polymerization conditions. The polymer brushes were characterized by both atomic force microscopy and electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis to determine the thickness and composition, respectively. The nonspecific adsorption of fibrinogen, lysozyme, and bovine serum albumin was measured using a surface plasmon resonance biosensor. It was found that when the polymer brush surface coating was formed as a statistical copolymer from the two charged components, it had nonfouling properties for all three probe proteins.