Polyvinylpyrrolidone-Based Coatings for Polyurethanes – The Effect of Reagent Concentration on Their Chosen Physical Properties

A method of manufacturing hydrogel coatings designed to increase the hydrophilicity of polyurethanes (PU) is presented. Coatings were obtained from polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) by free radical polymerisation. The authors proposed a mechanism of a two-step grafting - crosslinking process and investigated the influence of reagent concentration on the coating’s physical properties - hydrogel ratio (HG) and equilibrium swelling ratio (ESR). A surface analysis of freeze-dried coatings using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed a highly porous structure. The presented technology can be used to produce biocompatible surfaces with limited protein and cell adhesive properties and can be applied in fabrication of number of biomedical devices, e.g. catheters, vascular grafts and heart prosthesis.