Surface modification of polypropylene nonwoven fabrics via covalent immobilization of nonionic sugar-based surfactants

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Amphiphilic N-alkyl-1-amino-1-deoxy-D-glucitol were prepared. • The pGMA-grafted membranes were obtained via photo-grafting of glycidyl methacrylate. • Amphiphilic CnAG were covalent immobilized onto the pGMA-grafted membranes. • The CnAG-grafted membranes obviously suppressed protein adsorption and platelet adhesion. - Abstract: Amphiphilic N-alkyl-1-amino-1-deoxy-D-glucitol (CnAG, n = 8, 12) were successfully prepared. Polypropylene nonwoven fabrics (PPNWF) were grafted with glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) via a technique of UV-induced graft polymerization combined with plasma pre-treatment, and then PPNWF-g-GMA was used for the covalent immobilization of CnAG. The surface graft polymerization was confirmed by ATR-FTIR and XPS, respectively. Effect of grafting parameters, e.g., acetone content, monomer concentration and UV irradiation time on the grafting density of GMA was investigated. And the hemocompatibility of the modified PPNWF was evaluated by protein adsorption and platelet adhesion. It was founded that the CnAG-modified substrates greatly suppressed protein adsorption and platelet adhesion compared with the native and pGMA-grafted PPNWF