Long-term stability of antifouling poly(carboxybetaine acrylamide) brush coatings

• Published in: Progress in organic coatings Vol. 188; p. 108187
• Main Authors: Vrabcová, Markéta, Spasovová, Monika, Houska, Milan, Mrkvová, Kateřina, Lynn, N. Scott, Fekete, Ladislav, Romanyuk, Oleksandr, Dejneka, Alexandr, Vaisocherová-Lísalová, Hana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.03.2024
• Subjects: Antifouling coatings; Long-term stability; Poly(carboxybetaine acrylamide); Storage conditions; Zwitterionic polymer brushes; Zwitterionic polymer brushes; Poly(carboxybetaine acrylamide); Storage conditions; Long-term stability; Antifouling coatings
• ISSN: 0300-9440; 1873-331X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.porgcoat.2023.108187

A comprehensive understanding how storage conditions affect functional surface properties of antifouling organic coatings remains a persistent challenge across industry and research worldwide. This study investigates the long-term storage stability of state-of-art antifouling functionalizable zwitterionic poly(carboxybetaine acrylamide) (pCBAA) brushes using spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy (IRRAS), surface plasmon resonance (SPR), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The pCBAA brushes, prepared by surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) on SPR substrates, were subjected to various storage conditions for 43 days: kept in dry state at room temperature or −20 °C, and immersed in water or phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and kept at 6 °C or −20 °C. The IRRAS, SE and AFM data confirm only negligible release of pCBAA under these storage conditions. However, SE indicated a slightly lower brush swelling ratio depending on storage. The SPR was used to evaluate the resistance of unmodified pCBAA, pCBAA activated by EDC/NHS chemistry and deactivated with 2-(2-aminoethoxy)acetic acid (AEAA), and pCBAA functionalized with anti-E. coli antibodies against fouling from undiluted human blood plasma. The results confirm that pCBAA brushes maintain or may even improve their exceptional antifouling performance after prolonged storage, while displaying a slight deterioration in their binding capacity for anti-E. coli antibodies. [Display omitted] •Analysis of long-term storage and stability of antifouling biosensor nano-coatings•Focus on structural and functional properties of poly(carboxybetaine) (pCB) brushes•Storage conditions impact on antifouling properties and IgG-loading capacity•Significantly improved blood plasma fouling resistance of pCB stored in dry state•Investigation of how freezing affects unmodified and IgG-functionalized pCB