Surface modification method for adhesion of gels

Abstract

We successfully realized the adhesion of cationic gels in the aqueous solution by a method of surface modification with an anionic polymer chain. The adhesion force of the gel, which originates in the electrostatic interaction between the cationic gel surface and anionic polymer chain, is controlled by the solution pH because poly(acrylic acid) with (–COO⁻) and poly(N,N′-dimethylaminopropyl acrylamide) gel with (–NH⁺(CH₃)₂) were used. With the proposed method, we can select the electric charge of each gel surface to adhere to anionic or cationic gels.