Microplasma-assisted rapid, chemical oxidant-free and controllable polymerization of dopamine for surface modification

Abstract

The development of green, controllable and simple pathways for the rapid polymerization of dopamine is of great importance in the applications of polydopamine surface chemistry. Herein, we developed a green strategy to accelerate and control the polymerization of dopamine by using microplasma electrochemistry. It was found that the microplasma cathode could trigger and dramatically accelerate the polymerization process of dopamine. The PDA coating on a silicon wafer could reach a very high deposition rate of about 53 nm h⁻¹, which is comparable to the fastest methods. The on/off mode and the rate of the polymerization reaction could also be regulated easily by the input current. This method could also be applied for creating two-dimensional (2D) surface coating patterns on various substrates.