Issue 6, 2018

Integration of antifouling and antibacterial properties in salt-responsive hydrogels with surface regeneration capacity

Abstract

The development of new antimicrobial materials and strategies is of importance for many biomedical and industrial applications. In this work, we report a new strategy to integrate distinct antimicrobial, antifouling, and stimuli-responsive properties into a single hydrogel to realize bacteria resistance, killing, and releasing functions. To achieve this design, we conjugated salt-responsive anti-polyelectrolyte polyDVBAPS (poly(3-(dimethyl(4-vinylbenzyl)ammonio)propyl sulfonate)) with antifouling polyHEAA (poly(N-hydroxyethyl acrylamide)) and antimicrobial AgNPs (silver nanoparticles) to form a hybrid hydrogel of polyDVBAPS-g-polyHEAA@AgNPs, among which polyHEAA functions as a general antifouling background to prevent bacteria adsorption on the surface, AgNPs act as antimicrobial agents to kill bacteria on the surface, and polyDVBAPS uses its unique salt-responsive, anti-polyelectrolyte property to release adherent bacteria from the surface. In this design, polyDVBAPS-g-polyHEAA@AgNPs hydrogels not only effectively resist bacteria attachment and kill the adherent bacteria, but also regenerate the antifouling surface of the hydrogel by releasing the adhered bacteria to keep the surface free from bacteria. The polyDVBAPS-g-polyHEAA@AgNPs hydrogels exhibited high surface resistance to bacteria adsorption (<106 cells per cm2) for up to 4 days, high antibacterial activity by killing ∼99% of attached bacteria of both E. coli and S. aureus, and surface regeneration ability by releasing >96% of adherent live or dead bacteria from the surface upon a simple treatment of 1.0 M NaCl solution for 10 min. Upon the release of AgNPs, AgNPs were reloaded into the hydrogel again to achieve multiple antifouling, bactericidal, and regenerative properties. This work demonstrates a new design for a new multifunctional hydrogel to effectively achieve antimicrobial, antifouling, and surface regeneration properties, making this hydrogel very promising for antimicrobial applications.

Graphical abstract: Integration of antifouling and antibacterial properties in salt-responsive hydrogels with surface regeneration capacity

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
19 noy 2017
Accepted
09 yan 2018
First published
09 yan 2018

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2018,6, 950-960

Integration of antifouling and antibacterial properties in salt-responsive hydrogels with surface regeneration capacity

D. Zhang, Y. Fu, L. Huang, Y. Zhang, B. Ren, M. Zhong, J. Yang and J. Zheng, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2018, 6, 950 DOI: 10.1039/C7TB03018E

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements