Surface Functionalization of Polypropylene Nonwoven Fabric for Introducing Repeatable Controlled Drug Release Property

We developed polypropylene nonwoven fabrics (PP NWFs) with controlled drug release property via surface modification using the photo-activated chlorine dioxide radical (ClO2•) oxidation method, followed by β-cyclodextrin (CD) loading. PP materials are challenging to functionalize for allowing the immobilization of drugs, owing to their low reactivity and surface energy. Our β-CD/PP NWFs composite showed sustained drug release behavior over 12 h in phosphate buffer, indicating that β-CDs supported on PP fibers functioned successfully. Our functionalization method is desirable for drug delivery in medicinal chemistry.