Achieving One‐Step Surface Coating of Highly Hydrophilic Poly(Carboxybetaine Methacrylate) Polymers on Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Surfaces

Abstract

It is highly desirable to develop a universal nonfouling coating via a simple one-step dip-coating method. Developing such a universal coating method for a hydrophilic polymer onto a variety of surfaces with hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties is very challenging. This work demonstrates a versatile and simple method to attach zwitterionic poly(carboxybetaine methacrylate) (PCB), one of the most hydrophilic polymers, onto both hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces to render them nonfouling. This is achieved by the coating of a catechol chain end carboxybetaine methacrylate polymer (DOPA-PCB) assisted by dopamine. The coating process was carried out in water. Water miscible solvents such as methanol and tetrahydrofuran (THF) are added to the coatings if surface wettability is an issue, as for certain hydrophobic surfaces. This versatile coating method was applied to several types of surfaces such as polypropylene (PP), polydimethyl siloxane (PDMS), Teflon, polystyrene (PS), polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and also on metal oxides such as silicon dioxide.

Simple Coatings to Render Polystyrene Protein Resistant

“…While many DOPA-functionalised grafting-to methods have proved successful on the specific surfaces listed above, researchers have encountered fouling when trying the same approach for hydrophobic surfaces. It has been shown that catechol chain ends cannot sufficiently bind to hydrophobic surfaces due to the high solubility of the anti-fouling polymers to which they are bound (e.g., zwitterions) [37]. The alternative to functionalising the polymer with DOPA and thus overcoming surface adhering limitations, is to coat the entire surface in dopamine.…”

Preparation of high‐performance reverse osmosis membrane by zwitterionic polymer coating in a facile one‐step way

“…Nevertheless, the classical waved structure was also observed at the PA membrane modified by coating with S‐D‐3 as exhibited in Figure (c). As explained in the Effect of PSPE on Self‐Polymerization of Dopamine section, PSPE impeded the formation of dopamine aggregations by destroying noncovalent bonds between dopamine aggregations, and the hydrophilicity of PSPE aggravated this phenomenon . The results mean that dopamine/PSPE can deposit on the membrane surfaces homogenously without changing the morphology of membrane, the same trend was observed in the microfiltration membrane …”

“…These noncovalent interactions between PSPE and dopamine can pull down the noncovalent interactions between PDA aggregations such as hydrogen bond and π–π staking, and reduce the self‐polymerization rate of dopamine furthermore . And according to previous reports, the hydrophilic polymer can reduce the size of polydopamine aggregations as well …”

“…[2‐(Methacryloyloxy)ethyl] dimethyl‐(3‐sulfopropyl)ammonium hydroxide (SPE), the zwitterionic monomer we choose in this work, can be initiated to polymerize by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation . Poly(SPE) could impede the arising of dopamine aggregations via destroying noncovalent bonds between dopamine aggregations and make dopamine uniformly deposit on the membrane surface . Moreover, polydopamine could also react with the acyl chloride which is on PA RO membrane, which breaks the interaction between dopamine aggregations further.…”

Improving the antifouling properties of polypropylene surfaces by melt blending with polyethylene glycol diblock copolymers

“…Many studies have been conducted to alter the surfaces of materials by physical and chemical modifications . Decorating the surface with protein repellent coatings such as oligo‐ or poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), 2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate, sulfobetaine methacrylate, carboxybetaine methacrylate, 2‐methacryloyloxy‐ethyl phosphorylcholine, poly[ N ‐(2‐hydroxypropyl) methacrylamide], 3‐sulfopropyl‐methacrylate, and 2‐(tert‐butylamino)‐ethyl methacrylate have been studied.…”