Issue 33, 2014

Grafting zwitterionic polymer brushes via electrochemical surface-initiated atomic-transfer radical polymerization for anti-fouling applications

Abstract

Zwitterionic polymer brushes based on sulfobetaine vinylimidazole (pSBVI) were successfully grafted to silicon substrates by electrochemical surface-initiated atomic-transfer radical polymerization (e-SIATRP), and exhibited excellent anti-fouling activities because of the presence of the two bactericidal functional groups, imidazolium and sulfonate. Various characterization techniques, including atomic force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and use of a quartz crystal microbalance, were employed to characterize the polymer brush-modified silicon substrates. Subsequently, the anti-bacterial and anti-biofouling activities of the polymer brush substrates were evaluated. The experimental results showed that the pSBVI effectively resisted the adhesion of Nannochloropsis maritima and showed good anti-bacterial activity against Escherichia coli. In addition, in comparison with poly(vinylimidazole) brush-modified substrates and the bare substrate, the pSBVI-based materials also exhibited excellent anti-adsorption performance against both bovine serum albumin and lysozyme.

Graphical abstract: Grafting zwitterionic polymer brushes via electrochemical surface-initiated atomic-transfer radical polymerization for anti-fouling applications

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
20 May 2014
Accepted
24 Jun 2014
First published
30 Jun 2014

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2014,2, 5352-5357

Author version available

Grafting zwitterionic polymer brushes via electrochemical surface-initiated atomic-transfer radical polymerization for anti-fouling applications

W. Zhao, Q. Ye, H. Hu, X. Wang and F. Zhou, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2014, 2, 5352 DOI: 10.1039/C4TB00816B

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