From Homogeneous to Heterogeneous: A Simple Approach to Prepare Polymer Brush Modified Surfaces for Anti-Adhesion of Bacteria

Abstract In this paper, the hydrophilic p(N-hydroxyethylacrylamide) (PHEAA) brush was grafted from silicon wafer, followed by the decoration of C3F7 groups with low surface energy to the side chains of PHEAA brush. The anti-adhesion performance of the modified surfaces was evaluated using Actinomyces naeslundii and Streptococcus mutans. For 4 h incubation, the silicon wafer with PHEAA brush (Si-PHEAA) was able to resist the adhesion of bacteria, while the anti-adhesion of the PHEAA-C3F7 decorated silicon wafer (Si-PHEAA-C3F7) had been improved. When the incubation time was extended to 24 h, the Si-PHEAA-C3F7 still exhibited excellent adhesion-repellent property against bacteria. And among the Si-PHEAA-C3F7 surfaces with 2.6%, 9% and 13% grafting degrees of C3F7, there was no obvious difference in anti-adhesion performance. The results indicated that the method of polymerization prior to decoration is easy to operate, moreover the prepared Si-PHEAA-C3F7 possessed the long-term and high-efficiency anti-adhesion of bacteria ability.