Covalent grafting of polyacrylamide-based hydrogels to a polypropylene surface activated with functional polyperoxide

The covalent attachment of hydrogel networks has been verified for both approaches by contact angle measurements, dye adsorption by the hydrogel residues after network removal and extraction, and mechanical failure tests. The intermolecular condensation method has been found to be more advantageous for the formation of covalently bonded hydrogels on the PP substrate, while grafted network formation by radical polymerization was detected only for a limited range of monomer and cross-linking agent concentrations.