Photochemical control of microphase structure in biocompatible polyester membranes generated by ultraviolet irradiation

Abstract

The morphologies of PEMA-RB/PHEMA semi-interpenetrating polymeric network (semi-IPN) blended membranes prepared via ultraviolet (UV) promoted in situ photopolymerization were investigated using laser scanning confocal fluorescence microscopy (LSCFM). The results show that the semi-IPN morphology generated through UV light irradiation-induced microphase separation is considerably dependent on the relative rates of the photochemical reaction and microphase separation in the reactive precursor mixtures, which are determined by reactive dynamic factors. Changing the dynamic conditions, such as the UV light intensity, content of cross-linker and concentration of HEMA photopolymerization monomer resulted in a corresponding alteration of the morphological structure in the semi-IPN membranes. The hierarchical morphology appearing in the PEMA-RB/PHEMA semi-IPN should be related to the inhomogeneous photoreaction dynamics of the mixed system. Desired morphologies of the semi-IPN blend membranes can be obtained by controlling the corresponding dynamic conditions of both the photochemical reaction and microphase separation.