Hydration activated fluorinated grafting for poly (vinyl alcohol) with synergistic antifouling and dynamically tunable mechanics

Endowing poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) with robust and durable antifouling properties has long been a critical challenge for its advanced biomedical applications. Herein, a facile grafting strategy is proposed that exploits hydration to activate the hydroxyl groups on the surface of solid PVA, enabling efficient and uniform fluorination. The modified PVA surfaces exhibit pronounced hydrophobicity and oleophobicity, establishing the basis for its excellent antifouling performance. Moreover, the permeability of the grafted fluorinated layer permits ordered water penetration, leading to the formation of a stable interfacial hydration layer. This hydration layer can precisely and reversibly modulate the surface modulus (from 300 kPa to 0 kPa), thereby tuning the mechanical adaptability to meet the requirements of specific biological surfaces. Consequently, this approach yields a versatile PVA-based material that integrates static antifouling properties with dynamically tunable surface mechanics, providing a robust platform for the design of next-generation, functional PVA-based biomedical devices.