Bacterial adhesion to textiles is thought to contribute to odor and infection. Alternately exposing polyester fabric to aqueous solutions of poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDA) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) is shown here to create a nanocoating that dramatically reduces bacterial adhesion. Ten PDDA/PAA bilayers deposit a thickness of 180 nm, while only increasing the weight of the polyester by 2.5%.The high degree of PAA ionization during bacterial adhesion testing leads to a surface with a negative charge that causes a reduction in adhesion of <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> by 50% when compared to uncoated fabric, after rinsing with sterilized water, due to electrostatic repulsion. <i>S. aureus</i> bacterial adhesion was quantified using bioluminescent radiance measured before and after rinsing, revealing 99% of applied bacteria was removed with a 10 BL PDDA/PAA nanocoating. The ease of processing and benign nature of the polymers used, make this technology useful for rendering textiles antifouling on an industrial scale.

Polyelectrolyte multilayer nanocoating dramatically reduces bacterial adhesion to polyester fabric

254th National Meeting (2017)

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