Improved Hydrophobicity of a Bacterial Cellulose Surface: Click Chemistry in Action.

The vast application potentials of bacterial cellulose (BC)-based materials for developing leather-like materials, wound-healing materials and electronic materials have been realized very recently. Surface functionalization of these materials can help in improvement of certain properties such as water repellency, mechanical strength, and so forth. In this paper, we reported functionalization of BC surfaces using "click" polymerization for the first time.

Controlled decoration of the surface with macromolecules: polymerization on a self-assembled monolayer (SAM).

Polymer functionalized surfaces are important components of various sensors, solar cells and molecular electronic devices. In this context, the use of self-assembled monolayer (SAM) formation and subsequent reactions on the surface have attracted a lot of interest due to its stability, reliability and excellent control over orientation of functional groups. The chemical reactions to be employed on a SAM must ensure an effective functional group conversion while the reaction conditions must be mild enough to retain the structural integrity.