Catechol-mediated Functional Coatings of Polymer and Inorganic Nanostructures

As polymer coatings of nano-structured surface become significant to obtain functionalized materials, catechol derived from a mussel protein has attracted increasing attention for its universal adhesiveness. In addition to the unique adhesion property, its reducing ability of metal ions during oxidative polymerization to polydopamine (pD) widely expands the application of catechol molecules in the field of surface modification. In this study, we present the catechol conjugated smart polymer coatings for regulating surface properties such as wettability and anti-fouling effects. In additino, the in situ silver coating of electrospun polymer nanofibers using a silver-catechol redox reaction is presented as a simple method to produce metal nanostructures.