Surface Morphological Modification of Crosslinked Hydrophilic Functionalized Materials by Nanosecond Pulsed Laser Irradiation

GASTÓN A. PRIMO; CECILIA INÉS ALVAREZ IGARZÁBAL; GUSTAVO A. PINO; MAXIMILIANO ROSSA

Porto de Galinhas

Congreso; XIV Latin American Symposium on Polymers / XII Ibero American Congress on Polymers; 2014

Asociación Brasileña de Polímeros

In this work we investigate the surface modifications induced by irradiation with nanosecond laser pulses of ultraviolet and visible wavelengths on crosslinked hydrophilic materials, which have been functionalized with 1-vinylimidazole as a co-monomer. We compared hydrogels differing in the base co-monomer (2-(dimethylamino) ethylmethacrylate and N-[3-(dimethylamino)propyl]methacrylamide) and in water content (fully hydrated and dehydrated -by overnight drying-). Formation of craters is the dominant morphological changes observed by ablation in the visible at 532 nm, whereas additional, less aggressive surface modifications, chiefly roughness and foaming are developed in the ultraviolet at 266 nm. In all cases, the incident laser fluence dependence of these surface modifications is addressed. The observations are rationalized on the basis of currently accepted mechanisms for laser-induced polymer decomposition. Prospective applications of the laser-foamed hydrogel matrices in biomolecule immobilization are suggested.