Recently, intensive research has been conducted on the development of bacterial repelling surfaces because of the disadvantages of the conventional bactericidal leaching and contact-killing surfaces for practical application. Among these bacteria-repelling methodologies, zwitterionic polymers were widely investigated because of its excellent nonfouling properties, but its durability has limited its widespread use since most of the surfaces were developed by constructing polymer brushes via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). In this study, we developed zwitterionic polymer surfaces with desirable mechanical and chemical durability for long-term use through simple blending of poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) (PSBMA)/poly(ether sulfone) (PES) semi-interpenetrated networked microgels with hydrophobic PES polymer matrix. Results show that the as-prepared surfaces can efficiently induce hydration layers and, thus, reduce the bacterial attachment through resisting nonspecific protein adsorption. The bacterial adhesion for Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus was investigated under both flow and static conditions. This work has set a paradigm for developing durable antibacterial surfaces with nonfouling properties.
Keywords: antibacterial; durability; poly(ether sulfone); surface hydration; zwitterion.