Novel silsesquioxane mixture-modified high elongation polyurethane with reduced platelet adhesion

We have successfully synthesized a kind of novel silsesquioxane mixture that can be used to modify the surface of biomaterial polyurethane (PU) for the purpose of making silsesquioxane/PU as low-price and high-quality biomaterial. HPLC, FTIR and 29Si NMR are used to characterize as-synthesized silsesquioxane mixture. XPS figure and SEM images show the silsesquioxane particles really self-assemble on the PU surface. Contact angle measurements verify that there is a large hysteresis loop, which relates to low- and high-surface free energy component on the surface. Platelet adsorption at 90 min of PU/silsesquioxane mixture is lower than that of poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) and PU (two-way ANOVA, p < 0.05). Furthermore, SEM images show “island” morphologic pattern with Cooper grades I platelet adsorption morphology on the smooth PU/silsesquioxane surface, and mechanic test shows that the samples with silsesquioxane mixture can increase mechanic property of PU. On the basis of these results, we conclude that this kind of nanocomposite has promise for application in biomaterials.