Visible-light-induced surface graft polymerization via camphorquinone impregnation technique

A surface modification method that is particularly applicable to complexly shaped fabricated devices has long been awaited. In this article, we describe the visible-light-induced surface photograft polymerization technique by which an inner surface of the device is modified by visible-light irradiation through the external surface. Comphorquione, as a photoradical initiator, was impregnated on a segmented polyurethane surface by solvent soaking, followed by visible-light irradiation in the presence of monomers such as acrylamide and poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate. The resultant surfaces were highly wettable with water, and surface chemical compositional analysis by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that the surface was graft-polymerized with these monomers. The simple and widespread applicability of this surface modification technique to biomedical devices is discussed.