A photoresponsive molecularly imprinted system was prepared on a silicon wafer substrate surface via the host–guest complex of grafted 4-(3-triethoxysilylpropyiureido)azobenzene (TSUA) and mono-6-deoxy-6-((p-chlorosulfonyl)-benzoic acid)-β-cyclodextrin (CBA−β-CD), and the acid–base pair interactions/hydrogen bonds between CBA−β-CD and the template molecules, including theophylline (TPE) and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (4-HA). A molecular imprinting cycle “imprinting → extracting → uptaking → shuffling” was also defined in the study, the processes of uptaking and shuffling were investigated in detail by equilibrium binding experiments, and the Langmuir adsorption isotherm and Scatchard equation were used to evaluate the binding affinity and the theoretical binding sites of the molecularly imprinted (MIS), nonimprinted (NIS), and pure (PS) silicon wafer substrates. Compared with the NISs and PSs, the MISs showed a significantly higher adsorption capacity for the template molecules. More importantly, the MISs showed a reimprinted ability; after the process of shuffling, the molecularly imprinted systems on the substrate surface were destroyed, and new imprinted systems could be fabricated for the recognition of other template molecules after washing the substrates under irradiation at 450 nm. Moreover, the selective adsorption for the MISs was investigated, which indicated that the MISs showed specific affinity to the template molecules (TPE or 4-HA).
A simple strategy to fabricate bifunctional antibacterial coatings via in situ synthesis and incorporation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) into quaternized poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (qPDMAEMA) brushes without using any reducing agents is reported. PDMAEMA brushes are prepared on Si wafer substrates via surface-initiated reverse atom transfer radical polymerization, which then are quaternized with ethyl bromide and hexyl bromide, respectively. The resulting qPDMAEMA-AgNP nanocomposite coatings are characterized by using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), and Raman spectroscopy. FE-SEM and Raman results indicate that the AgNPs with an average diameter of 35 nm are successfully loaded into the qPDMAEMA brushes. Furthermore, the antibacterial activities of the qPDMAEMA-AgNP nanocomposite coatings against Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative Escherichia coli are investigated by both disc diffusion and colony-forming unit methods. The results show excellent antibacterial properties of the nanocomposite coatings. The influence of the length of the quaternization agents on their antibacterial properties is also investigated.