A polymer nanocomposite coating with enhanced hydrophilicity, antibacterial and antibiofouling properties: Role of polymerizable emulsifier/anionic ligand

Considerable attention has been devoted to producing polymer/Ag nanocomposite antibacterial coatings. However, agglomeration problems of Ag nanoparticles (Ag NPs) and complex preparation process greatly limit their performance and applications. This study reports a green, efficient, convenient and universal strategy for the preparation of antibacterial polyacrylate/Ag nanocomposite coatings via emulsion polymerization. In this work, a new type of polymerizable emulsifier, sodium mono dodecyl maleate (SMDM) was successfully synthesized, which also acted as an anionic ligand to achieve the uniform dispersion of Ag NPs in the polymer matrix by electrostatic interaction with Ag NPs. X-ray diffraction indicated that Ag NPs were successfully introduced into the coatings. Meanwhile, the results of transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscope demonstrated that Ag NPs were uniformly dispersed in the polymer matrix due to the action of SMDM, and the particle sizes were reduced to about 5 nm. Furthermore, the systematic investigations into the surface properties and antibacterial properties indicated that the nanocomposite coatings displayed greatly improved hydrophilicity, wettability, excellent antibacterial and antibiofouling ability. In a short period of time, the nanocomposite coatings could approach or even reach the superhydrophilic state. Besides, the nanocomposite coatings maintained close to 100% antibacterial rate and completely inhibited bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation in 7 days. It is believed that this approach has great potential to be applied in various fields where antibacterial properties are highly demanded and this method is expected to provide a promising reference for the uniform dispersion of other nanoparticles and the preparation of different functionalized coating materials.