Affiliations: Laboratory for Molecular Surfaces and Nanotechnology (LAMSUN), Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Catania, V.le Andrea Doria 6, 95125 Catania, Italy | European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Ispra (VA), Italy
Note: [] Corresponding author: Giovanni Marletta, Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Catania, V.le Andrea Doria 6, 95125 Catania, Italy. Tel./Fax: +39 095 336422; E‐mail: gmarletta@unict.it.
Abstract: The adsorption behavior of H–Arg–Gly–Asp–OH (RGD) oligopeptide on ion‐irradiated polymer surfaces has been studied. The RGD‐incubated surfaces of poly(ethylene terephtalate) (PET) and poly(hydroxymethylsiloxane) (PHMS) thin films, before and after irradiation with 50 keV Ar+ to 1×1015 ions/cm2, were investigated by X‐Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy. It was found that no significant adsorption occurs on PET, while a measurable amount of RGD is preferentially adsorbed onto irradiated PHMS surfaces. The evaluated surface coverage was found to range between 5 and 12%. In situ adsorption measurements performed by using the Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation monitoring technique showed that the irradiation induced remarkable changes of mass uptake with respect to the unirradiated surfaces, mostly attributed to the change in the water adsorption capability of the irradiated surfaces. The adsorption results are discussed in terms of the ion‐induced changes on the morphology, chemical structure and composition, surface free energy and surface charge.
Keywords: Peptide adsorption, ion beams, polymer modification, QCM‐D, surface free energy
