RSC Manuscript_Revision_v2_TaySockPeng.pdf (1.14 MB)
Addressing skin abrasions on artificial turfs with zwitterionic polymer brushes
journal contribution
posted on 2016-05-04, 13:53 authored by Sock P. Tay, Paul FlemingPaul Fleming, Steph ForresterSteph Forrester, Xiao HuTo address the skin-friendliness of synthetic surfaces intended for sports applications, the frictional
properties of hydrated zwitterionic polymer brushes are investigated outside of the common aqueous
environment where an excess of lubricating water molecules is absent. Photo-grafted poly(sulfobetaine
methacrylate) (pSBMA) brushes of various irradiation durations are prepared on polypropylene substrates
and the improvement in frictional properties of the pSBMA-modified surfaces against a silicone skin
counter-surface is studied. Frictional measurements under both dry and hydrated surface conditions
shows that the applied surface modification was capable of forming a stable lubrication layer in the
absence of excess water, significantly reducing the coefficient of friction by up to 78.8%. The pSBMA
brushes also provide the additional advantage of antifouling – exhibiting resistance towards pathogenic
Staphylococcus aureus with almost zero surface colonization for samples irradiated for 1200 s. The low
skin-sample friction under ambient conditions and desirable fouling-resistance highlights the potential of
pSBMA brushes as a modification strategy for achieving skin-friendly surfaces targeted at reducing the
risk of skin abrasions.
Funding
The authors would like to thank the Energy Research Institute, Nanyang Technological University (ERI@N) for kindly providing access to the microtribometer and the Facility for Analysis, Characterization, Testing and Simulation (FACTS) for providing access to the FESEM imaging equipment. Special thanks to Dr Ronn Goei from the Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute (NEWRI) for helping with the XPS analysis. This study is part of a Ph. D. program under the Institute for Sports Research (ISR), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
History
School
- Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
Published in
RSC Adv.Volume
6Issue
39Pages
32446 - 32453Citation
TAY, S.P. ... et al., 2016. Addressing skin abrasions on artificial turfs with zwitterionic polymer brushes. RSC Advances, 6 (39), pp. 32446 - 32453Publisher
© The Royal Society of ChemistryVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Publisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Publication date
2016-03-23Notes
This paper was accepted for publication in the journal RSC Advances and the definitive published version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C5RA26194E.eISSN
2046-2069Publisher version
Language
- en