Synergic effect of PVP and PEG hydrophilic additives on porous polyethersulfone (PES) membranes: preparation, characterization and biocompatibility

• Published in: Journal of polymer research Vol. 29; no. 7
• Main Authors: V. B., Athira, Mohanty, Smita, Nayak, S. K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-07-2022; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Additives; Analysis; Biocompatibility; Blood coagulation; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Clotting; Formulations; Heat resistance; Hydrophilicity; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Membranes; Morphology; Optimization; Original Paper; Polyethersulfones; Polyethylene glycol; Polymer Sciences; Polymers; Polyols; Polyvinylpyrrolidone; Pore size; Porosity; Povidone; Protein adsorption; Proteins; Surface roughness; Thermal resistance; Thermal stability; Thermodynamic properties; Thermogravimetric analysis; Polyethersulfone; Hydrophilic polymer additive; Biocompatibility analysis; Morphology of porous membranes
• ISSN: 1022-9760; 1572-8935
• DOI: 10.1007/s10965-021-02868-5

The objective of the study is to develop speciality polymeric membranes based on polyethersulfone (PES) by phase inversion method and analyzing the synergic effect of hydrophilic polymers polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) on membrane properties. Various formulations were developed for evaluating the hydrophilicity, morphology, thermal behaviour, cytocompatibility and hemocompatibility of membranes. Morphology studies revealed the variations in pore size, uniform porosity and surface roughness correlation of samples with different coagulation conditions and additive concentration. The tailoring of porosity and optimization of membranes with excellent biocompatibility were achieved by this study. Hemocompatibility of the optimized formulations were confirmed by protein adsorption, platelet adhesion and blood coagulation time. A significant reduction of protein adsorption to 96 ± 3.5 ng/cm
2
compared to pristine PES membrane (257 ± 5 ng/cm
2
) and an excellent increase in blood clotting time to 166.5 ± 2 s compared to the control sample (37 s) were achieved. Developed membranes show good hydrophilicity (64.14 ± 1.54 °C) and better cytocompatibility was observed. The high temperature performance was measured using thermogravimetric analysis which exhibited high heat resistance around 450 °C.