One-step preparation of green fabric for continuous antibacterial applications

Abstract Polypropylene (PP) scaffolds are the most commonly used biomedical scaffolds despite their disadvantages, which include problems with adhesion, infection, and inflammatory responses. Here, we report on the successful development of a facile one-step method to fabricate a series of novel triclosan polydopamine polypropylene (TPP) composite scaffolds and thereby effectively improve the biocompatibility and long-term antibacterial properties of PP scaffolds. The antibacterial triclosan can effectively interact with dopamine during biocompatible polydopamine formation on the PP scaffold by one-step green fabrication. Thanks to the sustained release of triclosan from the biocompatible polydopamine coating, a 5 mm × 5 mm sample of TPP-coated scaffold made with a triclosan concentration of 8 mg∙mL–1 (referred to herein as TPP-8) exhibited a continuous antibacterial effect against both Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) for more than 15 d, at maximum antibacterial volumes of 2 and 5 mL, respectively. Our study establishes a new direction for facile long-term antibacterial studies for medical applications.