Enhancement of hydrophilicity on hydrophobic polyHIPE materials by layer-by-layer technique

Abstract

Poly(High Internal Phase Emulsion)(PolyHIPE) materials were prepared by the copolymerization of the continuous phase of polystyrene (S) and polydivinylbenzene(DVB). The microporous surface of the obtained hydrophobic polyHIPE was then modified by the layer-by-layer polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEM) technique. PEM is a pair of polyanion and polycation. Which compose of PDAD/PSS Primers then coated with the secondary coating that were PDAD/PAA, PDAD/PSS and Chitosan/Alginate. Polyelectrolyte pair were investigated for their efficiency of the modified surface. The reflectance of UV-Vis Spectroscopy was used to monitor and confirm the number of layers increase. The sessile drop technique used to determine Contact angle values at the surface, the contact angle was decreased from 120 to 90. The influence of surface modification on water absorbed was investigated, increased water absorption while the number of layers increase.