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RESEARCH ARTICLE
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Antifouling and antimicrobial cobaltocenium-containing metallopolymer double-network hydrogels

Hui Li1,2 Peng Yang1 JiHyeon Hwang1 Parasmani Pageni1 Alan W. Decho3 Chuanbing Tang1*
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1 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
2 School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Jinan, Jinan, Shandong Province, China
3 Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
Submitted: 7 April 2022 | Revised: 19 May 2022 | Accepted: 13 June 2022 | Published: 28 June 2022
Copyright © 2022 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–ShareAlike 4.0 License.
Abstract

Compared with single-network hydrogels, double-network hydrogels offer higher mechanical strength and toughness. Integrating useful functions into double-network hydrogels can expand the portfolios of the hydrogels. We report the preparation of double-network metallopolymer hydrogels with remarkable hydration, antifouling, and antimicrobial properties. These cationic hydrogels are composed of a first network of cationic cobaltocenium polyelectrolytes and a second network of polyacrylamide, all prepared via radical polymerization. Antibiotics were further installed into the hydrogels via ion-complexation with metal cations. These hydrogels exhibited significantly enhanced hydration, compared with polyacrylamide-based hydrogels, while featuring robust mechanical strength. Cationic metallopolymer hydrogels exhibited strong antifouling against oppositely charged proteins. These antibiotic-loaded hydrogels demonstrated a synergistic effect on the inhibition of bacterial growth and antifouling of bacteria, as a result of the unique ion complexation of cobaltocenium cations.

Keywords
antimicrobial ; cobaltocenium ; double network hydrogel ; metallopolymer
Conflict of interest
The authors declare they have no competing interests.
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