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Friction 2022, 10(7): 1046-1060 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-021-0513-5
Research Article | Open Access | Issue | Published: 28 June 2021

Constructing a biomimetic robust bi-layered hydrophilic lubrication coating on surface of silicone elastomer

Show Author's Information Luyao GAO1,2,†,  Xiaoduo ZHAO2,†,  Shuanhong MA2( ),  Zhengfeng MA2,  Meirong CAI2,  Yong-Min LIANG1( ),  Feng ZHOU2
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China

†Luyao GAO and Xiaoduo ZHAO contributed equally to this work.

Keywords:
hydrogels, surface modification, silicone elastomer, layered lubrication coating, polyzwitterionic brush
Cite this article:
GAO L, ZHAO X, MA S, et al. Constructing a biomimetic robust bi-layered hydrophilic lubrication coating on surface of silicone elastomer. Friction, 2022, 10(7): 1046-1060. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-021-0513-5
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Silicone elastomers-based materials have been extensively involved in the field of biomedical devices, while their use is extremely restricted due to the poor surface lubricity and inherent hydrophobicity. This paper describes a novel strategy for generating a robust layered soft matter lubrication coating on the surface of the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) silicone elastomer, by entangling thick polyzwitterionic polyelectrolyte brush of poly (sulfobetaine methacrylate) (PSBMA) into the sub-surface of the initiator-embedded stiff hydrogel coating layer of P(AAm-co-AA-co-HEMA–Br)/Fe, to achieve a unified low friction and high load-bearing properties. Meanwhile, the stiff hydrogel layer with controllable thickness is covalently anchored on the surface of PDMS by adding iron powder to provide catalytic sites through surface catalytically initiated radical polymerization (SCIRP) method and provides high load-bearing capacity, while the topmost brush/hydrogel composite layer is highly effective for aqueous lubrication. Their synergy effects are capable of attaining low friction coefficient (COFs) under wide range of loaded condition in water environment with steel ball as sliding pair. Furthermore, the influence of mechanical modulus of the stiff hydrogel layer on the lubrication performance of layered coating is investigated, for which the COF is the lowest only when the modulus of the stiff hydrogel layer well matches the PDMS substrate. Surprisingly, the COF of the modified PDMS could remain low friction (COF < 0.05) stably after encountering 50,000 sliding cycles under 10 N load. Finally, the surface wear characterizations prove the robustness of the layered lubricating coating. This work provides a new route for engineering lubricious silicon elastomer with low friction, high load-bearing capacity, and considerable durability.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Constructing a biomimetic robust bi-layered hydrophilic lubrication coating on surface of silicone elastomer

Show Author's information Luyao GAO1,2,†, Xiaoduo ZHAO2,†, Shuanhong MA2( ), Zhengfeng MA2, Meirong CAI2, Yong-Min LIANG1( ), Feng ZHOU2
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China

†Luyao GAO and Xiaoduo ZHAO contributed equally to this work.

Abstract

Silicone elastomers-based materials have been extensively involved in the field of biomedical devices, while their use is extremely restricted due to the poor surface lubricity and inherent hydrophobicity. This paper describes a novel strategy for generating a robust layered soft matter lubrication coating on the surface of the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) silicone elastomer, by entangling thick polyzwitterionic polyelectrolyte brush of poly (sulfobetaine methacrylate) (PSBMA) into the sub-surface of the initiator-embedded stiff hydrogel coating layer of P(AAm-co-AA-co-HEMA–Br)/Fe, to achieve a unified low friction and high load-bearing properties. Meanwhile, the stiff hydrogel layer with controllable thickness is covalently anchored on the surface of PDMS by adding iron powder to provide catalytic sites through surface catalytically initiated radical polymerization (SCIRP) method and provides high load-bearing capacity, while the topmost brush/hydrogel composite layer is highly effective for aqueous lubrication. Their synergy effects are capable of attaining low friction coefficient (COFs) under wide range of loaded condition in water environment with steel ball as sliding pair. Furthermore, the influence of mechanical modulus of the stiff hydrogel layer on the lubrication performance of layered coating is investigated, for which the COF is the lowest only when the modulus of the stiff hydrogel layer well matches the PDMS substrate. Surprisingly, the COF of the modified PDMS could remain low friction (COF < 0.05) stably after encountering 50,000 sliding cycles under 10 N load. Finally, the surface wear characterizations prove the robustness of the layered lubricating coating. This work provides a new route for engineering lubricious silicon elastomer with low friction, high load-bearing capacity, and considerable durability.

Keywords: hydrogels, surface modification, silicone elastomer, layered lubrication coating, polyzwitterionic brush

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Publication history

Received: 28 October 2020
Revised: 25 December 2020
Accepted: 30 March 2021
Published: 28 June 2021
Issue date: July 2022

Copyright

© The author(s) 2021.

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge supports from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFC1100401) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (22032006, 52075522). F. Zhou thanks to the project support of the Key Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDPB2404). S. Ma thanks to the support by Youth Innovation Promotion Association (2019411).

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