A new approach to fabricate polyimidazolium salt (PIMS) coatings with efficient antifouling and antibacterial properties

Bacterial infection has become the major problem shared by all countries around the world at present, especially, bacterial biofilm and medical implant-associated infections become even more difficult to eradicate by their robust matrix structure, making them 1000-fold more resistant to conventional antibiotics. Therefore, it appears necessary to carry out a potent antibacterial polymeric coating with excellent antibacterial and antibiofilm performance with low coat as well as good biocompatibility. In this work, we report an innovative strategy to prepare an antibacterial coating on poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) substrate with cationic polyimidazolium salts (PIMS), using epoxy resin as curing agent, combining with surface radical polymerization of acrylic acid (AA) and Debus-Radziszewski reaction of formaldehyde, glyoxal, and chitosan. These results of In Vitro antibacterial assay, antibiofilm, hemolytic activity and In Vitro cytotoxicity test showed this antibacterial coating has good antibacterial and antibiofilm performance and biocompatibility.