Functionalized Surfaces with Tunable Properties for Biomedical Devices and Implantation

S. Ruppel
Stevens Institute of Technology,
United States

Keywords: polydopamine, biocompatibility, surface functionalization

Summary:

Infection and biofilm formation are quickly becoming one of the paramount concerns as healthcare facilities worldwide. Functionalized polydopamine coatings have already proven to be a worthwhile avenue for preventing biofilm formation. This is due to both the ability of polydopamine to coat on a wide array of surfaces and the capability for these coatings to be functionalized, through a multitude of methods, to target specific functions. Existing functionalized polydopamine coatings have the disadvantage of using positively charged side chains because though these modifications have excellent antibacterial activity, they also can have low biocompatibility. Here dopamine coatings which have been tuned to have a greater coating efficiency and have been non- covalently functionalized with negatively charged copolymers.