Wetting behavior and stability of surface-modified polyurethane materials

Even though polyurethanes (PU) constitute a class of highly versatile and customizable polymeric materials, being able to modify their surface properties, for example, their wettability, without altering the composition of the bulk material would often be desirable. However, PU-based materials can be both rather diverse and resilient to chemical modification. Thus, in this study, three PU variants are subjected to three different treatments that aim at altering the wetting properties of the materials: We assess the feasibility of plasma treatment, dopamine incubation, and chemical etching, and evaluate the stability of the obtained surface modifications with regard to wet and dry storage, UV exposure, and application-specific properties such as lubricity and colonization with eukaryotic cells. The results obtained here can be used to achieve an additional customization of PU surfaces to tailor their behavior for selected applications where dedicated surface properties are required.