A multifunctional anti-fog, antibacterial, and self-cleaning surface coating based on poly(NVP-co-MA)

In this work, a multifunctional coating with excellent anti-fog, self-cleaning, and antibacterial properties was developed by grafting poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone-co-maleic anhydride) (poly(NVP-co-MA)) co-polymer on glass slides. The highly hydrophilic PVP segments can render the coating excellent anti-fog and self-cleaning properties because they can lead water droplets to spread uniformly on the surface, while the PMA segments can form robust covalent bonds with the amino-group on the substrate to enhance the durability of the coating. In addition, the coating also displayed outstanding ability to resist microorganism adhesion due to the highly hydrophilic PVP segments. These merits prove that the multifunctional coating developed in this work can be widely used in many applications where anti-fog, self-cleaning, and antimicrobial adhesion properties are needed.