A method for making a weak cation-exchange (carboxylic acid) medium comprising contacting a solution of a functional organic polymer having carbon to carbon double bond unsaturation and having weak cationic exchange functional moieties or precursors thereof in a solvent with a substrate having an organic polymer surface, evaporating said solvent and breaking said double bond under conditions to cause the functional organic polymer to covalently bond to the substrate surface and to cross-link to form a cross-linked functional polymer layer covalently bound to the substrate surface. The medium produced by the method.