Surface characteristics of pluronic-based polyurethanes

Amphiphile polymers find widespread applications because of their unique ability to self-assemble and modify interfacial properties. Smart polymers have very promising applications in the biomedical field as delivery systems of therapeutic agents, tissue engineering scaffolds, cell culture supports, bioseparation devices, sensor or actuators systems. Polyurethanes and polyurethane-ureas based on pluronic macrodiols have been prepared. The morphological and self- assembly characteristics were tuned in function of the structural parameters related to the soft matrix and H- bonding. HF plasma was employed to change the interfacial characteristics. The plasma action was evaluated by contact angle measurements and SEM analyses. We used also HF plasma to obtain cross-linked gels. The self-assembling behaviour was evidenced by TEM, SEM and AFM.