Engineering and Characterization of Polymer Surfaces for Biomedical Applications

The application of synthetic polymers in the growing field of materials for medical applications is illustrated by examples from recent work at the Materials Institute of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. The review highlights the need for functionalization and chemical control of material surfaces at a molecular/functional level. After a brief introduction into the surface chemical analysis tools, i.e., X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) combined with contact angle measurements, phosphorylcholine biomimicking polymers as well as immobilization of carbohydrates on polystyrene are presented.