Surface engineering of low-fouling and hemocompatible polyethersulfone membranes via in-situ ring-opening reaction

Although many methods have been investigated to enhance the anti-fouling and hemocompatility of polymeric membranes , developing simplified and high-efficiency strategies to synthesize low-fouling and hemocompatible membranes for safe blood purification remains a huge challenge. Herein, we proposed a facile and straightforward approach to solve the aforementioned problems. Firstly, poly (glycidyl methacrylate) (PGMA) was incorporated into polyethersulfone (PES) membranes via a combination of an in-situ crosslinking polymerization and the phase inversion method. Then, poly (acrylic acid- co -2-acrylanmido-2- methylpropanesulfonic acid) (PAA-AMPS) was covalently coated onto the PES membrane surfaces via an in-situ ring-opening reaction between the PAA and PGMA by simply immersing the membranes into the PAA-AMPS solution. Compared to pristine PES membrane, the protein adsorption amount of the modified membranes reduced; the flux recovery ratio and the resistance to blood cell and bacteria adhesion significantly increased. In addition, the hemocompatibility of the modified membranes was significantly improved, as indicated by the prolongation of the activated partial thromboplastin time and thrombin time of PES-based membranes by 157% and 584% respectively. The proposed simple and high-efficient strategy in this study might be a powerful tool to fabricate polymeric membranes with various and desired functions.