Mussel adhesion and cell membrane antifouling mimetic strategies for durable fouling-resistant coating

Surface fouling is a universal phenomenon of all materials and devices, resulting in economic loss and health risk. Recently appeared and fast developing zwitterionic coating antifouling strategy, inspired from the inherent antifouling nature of cell membrane, has been investigated as one of the strongest antifouling techniques. Moreover, these cell membrane mimetic antifouling coatings can be constructed on all materials and devices by the assistance of self-adhesive polydopamine (PDA). The combination of the mussel inspired universal adhesive PDA and cell membrane mimetic antifouling strategies enables the zwitterionic coatings facilely applicable in all antifouling related fields, including biomedical devices, membrane separation and marine antifouling. In this review, the coating design concepts, construction techniques and recent progress on antifouling zwitterionic polymer coating applications are summarized. The coating stability and crosslinking enhancement are emphasized for practical application.