LAUSR

This work addresses the challenge of surface modification of porous, electrospun fiber mats containing an insoluble conducting polymer coating. Here, a novel methodology of grafting a polymer brush onto conducting polymer fiber mats is developed that employs filtering of the polymerization solution through the fiber mat. An electrospun sulfonated polystyrene-poly(ethylene-ran-butylene)-polystyrene (sSEBS) fiber mat is firstly coated with a layer of conducting copolymer bearing an Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP) initiating functionality (PEDOT-Br). The surface-initiated ATRP from the fibers' surface is then carried out to graft a hydrophilic polymer brush (PEGMMA 300) by means of filtering the polymerization solution through the fiber mat. SEM images reveal a progressive change in the morphology of the fiber mat surface with the increasing volume of the filtrated polymerization solution, while EDX spectra show a change in the atomic O/S ratio, therefore confirming the successful grafting from the fibers' surface. The conductive fiber mat grafted with hydrophilic brushes shows a 20% reduction in the non-specific adsorption of BSA compared to a pristine fiber mat. This study is a proof-of-concept for this novel, filtration-based, surface-initiated polymerization methodology. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.