Biomimetic Honeycomb-Structured Surfaces Formed from Block Copolymers Incorporating Acryloyl Phosphorylcholine

Abstract

We report the preparation of biomimetic honeycomb-structured porous films. These regular arrays were obtained by casting block copolymers composed of polystyrene and poly(acryloyl phosphorylcholine), so that they mimicked a cell membrane. The size of the pores and regularity of the hexagonal array is strongly dependent on the block length. The block copolymers were prepared via RAFT (reversible addition fragmentation transfer) polymerization leading to well-defined products with a good control over block sizes.