A zwitterionic terpolymer based coating potentially for antibacterial and antifouling applications

Antifouling materials are highly demanded in global marine market due to increasingly aggravated marine biofouling problem and unbalanced marine ecology . Herein, poly (vinyl imidazole- co -hydroxypropyl methacrylate- co -butyl acrylate) (P(VIm- co -HPMA- co -BA)) was prepared via free radical polymerization of commercially available monomers of vinyl imidazole (VIm), hydroxypropyl methacrylate (HPMA) and butyl acrylate (BA). Then the zwitterionic terpolymer (P(VPS- co -HPMA- co -BA)) was obtained by ionicalization of P(VIm- co -HPMA- co -BA) with 1, 3-propionate lactone (1, 3-PS) in EtOH solutions. Furthermore, the membrane samples, P(VIm- co -HPMA- co -BA) and P(VPS- co -HPMA- co -BA) were prepared by tape casting method with DI water bath. Significantly, P(VPS- co -HPMA- co -BA) membranes have shown better bactericidal activity against Gram-negative Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus ( S. aureus ) with a mean area size of 3.5 cm 2 . Meanwhile, the bacterial adhesion assay showed that P(VPS- co -HPMA- co -BA) membranes were found the absence of adherent bacteria, and exhibited excellent anti-adhesion property with the increase of molar ratios of PVPS by the observation of bacteria population density. The mechanical testing results indicated that the molar ratios of 65/10/25 in P(VIm- co -HPMA- co -BA) membranes and P(VPS- co -HPMA- co -BA) membranes had high breaking elongation ratio and great tensile strength . Specifically, the maximum tensile strength of P(VPS- co -HPMA- co -BA) membrane could reach up to 10.9 MPa. The results showed that the novel P(VPS- co -HPMA- co -BA) membrane exhibited both anti-bacterial, anti-adhesion property and mechanical performance, manifesting its prospectively potential applications in new highly efficient and eco-friendly marine antifouling coatings.