Antifouling and Antimicrobial Polymer Membranes Based on Bioinspired Polydopamine and Strong Hydrogen-Bonded Poly(N-vinyl pyrrolidone)

Abstract

A facile and versatile approach for the preparation of antifouling and antimicrobial polymer membranes has been developed on the basis of bioinspired polydopamine (PDA) in this work. It is well-known that a tightly adherent PDA layer can be generated over a wide range of material surfaces through a simple dip-coating process in dopamine aqueous solution. The resulting PDA coating is prone to be further surface-tailored and functionalized via secondary treatments because of its robust reactivity. Herein, a typical hydrophobic polypropylene (PP) porous membrane was first coated with a PDA layer and then further modified by poly(N-vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) via multiple hydrogen-bonding interactions between PVP and PDA. Data of water contact angle measurements showed that hydrophilicity and wettability of the membranes were significantly improved after introducing PDA and PVP layers. Both permeation fluxes and antifouling properties of the modified membranes were enhanced as evaluated in oil/water emulsion filtration, protein filtration, and adsorption tests. Furthermore, the modified membranes showed remarkable antimicrobial activity after iodine complexation with the PVP layer. The PVP layer immobilized on the membrane had satisfying long-term stability and durability because of the strong noncovalent forces between PVP and PDA coating. The strategy of material surface modification reported here is substrate-independent, and applicable to a broad range of materials and geometries, which allows effective development of materials with novel functional coatings based on the mussel-inspired surface chemistry.

Sustainable Antibiofouling Properties of Thin Film Composite Forward Osmosis Membrane with Rechargeable Silver Nanoparticles Loading

“…41 With prolonging the dopamine polymerization time from 6 to 24 h, the water contact angle of the polyamide surfaces did not drop down further, shown in Figure S2, which may be attributed to the self-inhibition of PDA growth upon 6 h of dopamine polymerization. 27 After the second step of incubating the PDA modified membranes with silver nitrate solution, the water contact angle of the polyamide layer was further dropped down to 28.5 ± 4.6°upon the formation of Ag NPs ( Figure S3a), indicating the improved surface hydrophilicity from Ag NPs. 35 The surface morphology was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM).…”

A Comprehensive Review on Polymeric Nano-Composite Membranes for Water Treatment

“…plasma treatment, UV irradiation etc.) (b) Bulk modification includes radical polymerization and blending of membranes with hydrophilic additives (incorporation of nanoparticles via interfacial polymerization) [104][105][106][107][108][109]. Blending with hydrophilic additives to modify membrane properties doesn't require additional step during composite membrane preparation.…”

Surface zwitterionization of hemocompatible poly(lactic acid) membranes for hemodiafiltration

“…With the increase of polymerization time, the thickness of the deposited PDA layer grew and the white membrane surface gradually turned brown and dark. After 24 h, the thickness of the PDA layer reached a constant value [46,51], the obtained PLA/PDA membranes were taken out and repeatedly rinsed with deionized water and dried in a vacuum oven. Subsequently, the immobilization of the ATRP initiators (Br) on the PLA/PDA membranes was carried out.…”

“…The tightly adhered PDA layer has good stability and little damage to the substrate materials. More important, the PDA layer can be used as a versatile platform for further functionalization under mild conditions [46][47][48]. In our previous work, heparin had immobilized covalently onto PLA membrane surface through the coupling between heparin and reactive polydopamine layer to improve its hemocompatibility [49].…”