Photoactive mussels inspired polymer coatings: preparation and antibacterial activity

In this article we report on the facile preparation of photoactive antibacterial mussel inspired polymer coatings deposited on a stainless steel (SS) substrate from water based precursors. The coating is prepared by the sequential deposition of aqueous based solutions of an anchoring layer based on bio‐inspired glue, a cationic polymer bearing pendent catechols, a nanogel decorated by ortho‐quinones and a photosensitizer of the aminoacridine type. This latter is grafted to the coating by reaction of its amino group with the o‐quinone of the deposited nanogel. The deposition of all layers is followed in‐line by Quartz crystal microbalance coupled with dissipation (QCM‐D) and AFM shows that the thin polymer film repeated the roughness of the SS substrate. The prepared coatings show good mechanical properties applying nanoindentation techniques. The established antibacterial activity of the prepared photoactive polymer coatings on SS against Gram‐negative E. coli strain demonstrate their potential as a power tool for medical applications.