Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Protein adsorption on material surface plays an important role in improving biocompatibility of materials. In addition, introducing of liquid crystal (LC) structure can amend the biocompatibility of polymer.
OBJECTIVE: To prepare LC / polyvinyl chloride (PVC) composite membranes via imitating the LC structure of the surface of biological membranes based on the idea of “bionic design”.
METHODS: A certain amount of PVC and LC compounds were dissolved in tetrahydrofuran to prepare solutions, and to prepare LC / PVC composite membranes according to different mixture ratios. The composite membranes were placed in reaction box for 4 hours, and drying in vacuum. The pure PVC membranes were prepared as the controls. The surficial topological features of the membranes were observed under polarizing microscope and scanning electron microscope. The protein adsorption on the surfaces was studied.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The surficial topological structure and performance of the membranes were able to be controlled through adjustment of the size and arrangement of LC domains by thermal treatment in different temperature and change of LC contents. That is, the surficial smooth was increased with high LC contents and decreased temperature. The expected topological structure could be obtained by adjusting LC contents and temperature of thermal treatment, which affected the protein adsorption on the membrane surfaces.