Ultra-smooth Polydopamine Film

About

The Challenge: Poly(catecholamine) coatings are useful surface modifiers in a wide range of applications. With their strong adhesion and conformity to a wide variety of material surfaces, they provide advantages such as robustness in harsh chemical environments, semi-conductive capabilities and a capacity for further functionalisation or conjugation. Synthetic poly(catecholamine) coatings are conventionally produced by oxidising catecholamine monomers, in the presence of the substrate to be coated, in basic aqueous media such as tris buffer. Because poly(catecholamines) are highly insoluble, the polymeric material precipitates on the substrate as it is formed. A significant challenge is the lack of control over precipitation, resulting in sporadic coverage, rough coating morphology and little or no control over the molecular structure and properties of the produced coating. The Solution: Monash has developed a novel synthetic protocol to produce soluble polymers using of catecholamine monomers to generate polymeric coatings with advanced adhesive and highly-controllable surface properties such as hydrophilicity and molecular structure Our protocol allows for synthesis of soluble polymers that can be easily characterised using standard NMR techniques and deposited on any surface. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of soluble polymer production for this family of catecholamines. The deposition procedure allows for control of the thickness and morphology of the coating. The resulting coatings are super thin and super smooth, an outcome that cannot be achieved with currently reported methods.