Hierarchical Polymer Brushes with Dominant Antibacterial Mechanisms Switching from Bactericidal to Bacteria Repellent

Although polycationic surfaces have high antimicrobial efficacies, they suffer from high toxicity to mammalian cells and severe surface accumulation of dead bacteria. For the first time, we propose a surface-initiated photoiniferter-mediated polymerization (SI-PIMP) strategy of constructing a cleaning zwitterionic outer layer on a polycationic bactericidal background layer to physically hinder the availability of polycationic moieties for mammalian cells in aqueous service. In dry conditions, the polycationic layer exerts the contact-active bactericidal property toward the adherent bacteria, as the zwitterionic layer collapses. In aqueous environment, the zwitterionic layer forms a hydration layer to significantly inhibit the attachment of planktonic bacteria and the accumulation of dead bacteria, while the polycationic layer kills bacteria occasionally deposited on the surface, thus preserving the antibacterial capability for a long period. More importantly, the zwitterionic hydrated layer protects the mammalian cells from toxicity induced by the bactericidal background layer, and therefore hierarchical antibacterial surfaces present much better biocompatibility than that of the naked cationic references. The dominant antibacterial mechanism of the hierarchical surfaces can switch from the bactericidal efficacy in dry storage to the bacteria repellent capability in aqueous service, showing great advantages in the infection-resistant applications.