Study of Zwitterionic Materials for Biomedical and Energy Storage Applications

This dissertation focused on the design of zwitterionic materials, synthesis of zwitterionic polymers with desired properties, material characterizations, and the exploration of the applications of zwitterionic polymers in the biomedical and energy storage areas. A series of zwitterionic thermoplastic polyurethane (PCB-PTHFUs) with critical antifouling properties were synthesized. The PCB-PTHFUs exhibit a high breaking strain, a high resistance to fibroblast cells, and an excellent ability to prevent biofilm formation. This study lays a foundation for clarifying the structure-function relationships of zwitterionic polymers. This thermoplastic PCB-PTHFU platform, with its unmatched antifouling properties and high elasticity, has the potential for implanted medical devices and a broad spectrum of applications that suffer from biofouling, such as material-associated infection. The application of PCB-PTHFUs was then extended to constructing a non-fouling membrane surface. We developed a plasma separation device to achieve large output and a high virus recovery for on-site viral load tests. We describe a portable, easy-to-use, cost-efficient, membrane-filtration-based plasma separation device that enables rapid large-volume plasma extraction from whole blood, designed for point-of-care virus assays. The device benefits from the PCB-PTHFU-coated membrane, which can greatly inhibit the surface fouling of blood cells and enables rapid plasma separation and high biomarker recovery. With its high plasma yield and good phage recovery, our plasma separation device provides an excellent replacement for traditional plasma separation protocols for point-of-care virus assays and a broad spectrum of clinical tests. We also presented our efforts on making a zwitterionic polyurethane electrolyte (zPUSPE), which consists of orders of magnitude larger ionic conductivity than conventional polymer electrolytes. Although studied as a biomedical material for decades, the applications of zwitterionic materials as ion conductors in batteries only largely emerged in recent years. The zwitterionic CB groups enable fast ion transport, high surface adhesion energy, and fast self-healing of the zPUSPE. As a result, this zPUSPE exhibited high ionic conductivity, good adhesion to the electrode, and stable cycling in an ASSLIB. These great features of this zPUSPE make it a promising electrolyte for applications in the energy storage area.