Preparation and Biocompatibility of Polyester Films Grafted with Functional mPEG Copolymers

The surface ofpoly（ethylene terephthalate）（PET） films is inert, hydrophobic, and incompatible with blood, which has limited its practical bioapplication. In this case, better biocompatibility could be achieved by surface modification. In this study, the grafted copolymer of functional methoxypolyethylene glycol（mPEG） derivatives and styrene from the PET surfaces was prepared via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization（SI-ATRP）. The structures, composition, properties and surface morphology of the grafted PET films were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy（FTIR）, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy（XPS）, contact angle measurements and scanning electronic microscopy（SEM）. The results indicate that the surface of the PET films has been covered by a thick targeted copolymer layer that converted the hydrophobic surface of PET to an amphiphilic surface. The bacte- rial adhesion and cell culture results indicate the copolymer-grafted PET film may possess good biocompatibility.