Antifogging/Antibacterial Coatings Constructed by <i>N</i>-Hydroxyethylacrylamide and Quaternary Ammonium-Containing Copolymers

Abstract

Endoscopic surgery has gained widespread applications in various clinical departments, and endoscope surfaces with antifogging and antibacterial properties are essential for elaborate procedures. In this work, novel antifogging/antibacterial coatings were developed from a cationic copolymer and a hydrophilic copolymer, polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane-poly(quaternary ammonium compound-<i>co</i>-2-aminoethyl methacrylate hydrochloride) [POSS-P(QAC-<i>co</i>-AEMA)] and poly(<i>N</i>-hydroxyethylacrylamide-<i>co</i>-glycidyl methacrylate) [P(HEAA-<i>co</i>-GMA)] via a facile and green blending method. Such transparent coatings showed excellent antifogging performance under both in vitro and in vivo fogging conditions, mainly attributed to the high water-absorbing capability of HEAA and QAC. Antibacterial assays proved that the blending coatings had a superior antibacterial property, which could be improved with the proportion of POSS-P(QAC-<i>co</i>-AEMA) because of the bactericidal efficiency of cationic QAC. Meanwhile, owing to the high hydratability of HEAA, the blending coatings exhibited a bacteria-repelling property. By simply tuning the blending ratio of POSS-P(QAC-<i>co</i>-AEMA) and P(HEAA-<i>co</i>-GMA), the comprehensive bacteria-killing and bacteria-repelling properties of the coatings were achieved. Moreover, after incubating with red blood cells, the prepared blending coatings presented a lower hemolytic rate of less than 5%. The findings provided a potential means for addressing the challenge of fogging and bacterial contamination occurring in endoscopic lenses and other medical devices.