Synthesis and characterisation of macroporous poly(methyl methacrylate) with plasma-polymerised hydrophilic coating

This thesis focuses on the synthesis and characterisation of a new macroporous biomatenal made of poly(methyl methacrylate) and plasma-polymerised poly(hydroxyethyl acrylate). A series of porous and non-porous PMMA networks with different degrees of porosity and cross-linker contents were synthesised by polymerisation in the presence of ethanol and bulk polymerisation. Macroporous PMMA was allowed to adsorb 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate monomer vapour. The absence of thermal or photoinitiators makes difficult the initiation of the polymerisation process of the adsorbed monomer. However, by plasma treatment this problem can be solved. This method of forming a pure hydrophilic coating by plasma polymerisation is very interesting because the porosity of the scaffold hardly changes at the end of the process.; The DMS spectrum shows that these materials are a new kind of macroporous hydrogel with a high mechanical modulus at room temperature and able to adsorb water while keeping their mechanical properties. Takayanagi's block model was applied to these results to characterise the biphasic behaviour of these systems.; Porosity measurements were performed to determine the volume fraction of pores in the samples before and after the plasma treatment. The structure and morphology of these macroporous systems were observed by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).; The nature, homogeneity and stability of the hydrophilic coating was studied by DSC, ATR FTIR, TGA and immersion in water. It was found that the plPHEA is very stable and only in very drastic conditions (boiling water) can suffer hydrolytic degradation.; The water sorption and diffusion properties of these biomaterials were studied by dynamic desorption, contact angle, equilibrium sorption isotherms and immersion experiments. Thermal analysis of water in the hydrophilic layer was performed by DSC.; All these experimental techniques suggested that the plasma-polymerised PHEA is more homogeneously interpenetrated with macroporous PMMA polymerised with 5 wt.% of EGDMA.; These porous systems have been designed with the aim of finding application as scaffold for cell culture in biomedical engineering but there is also a broad range of fields (dialysis, seawater desalting, etc.) in which they could be very useful as well due to their large specific area and water diffusion properties.