A method is presented to prevent microbial adhesion to solid surfaces exploiting the unique properties of polymer
brushes. Polyacrylamide (PAAm) brushes were grown from silicon wafers by atom transfer radical polymerization
(ATRP) using a three-step reaction procedure consisting of immobilization of a coupling agent γ-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, anchoring of an ATRP initiator 4-(chloromethyl)benzoyl chloride, and controlled radical polymerization
of acrylamide. The surfaces were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared
spectroscopy, ellipsometry, and contact-angle measurements. The calculated grafting density pointed to the presence
of a dense and homogeneous polymer brush. Initial deposition rates, adhesion after 4 h, and detachment of two bacterial
strains (Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 12600 and Streptococcus salivarius GB 24/9) and one yeast strain (Candida
albicans GB 1/2) to both PAAm-coated and untreated silicon surfaces were investigated in a parallel plate flow
chamber. A high reduction (70−92%) in microbial adhesion to the surface-grafted PAAm brush was observed, as
compared with untreated silicon surfaces. Application of the proposed grafting method to silicone rubbers may offer
great potential to prevent biomaterials-centered infection of implants.
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