Vapor-Phase Thin-Film Polymerization for Microbial-Resistant Surface Functionalization

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-727-9_27How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Chemical vapor deposition; antibacterial coatings; polymer thin films; bio- fouling; antimicrobial surfaces; vapor-phase polymerization

Abstract

The focus of this paper is the so-called functional polymer thin films deposited via all-dry vapour-phase processes including CVD, plasma-enhanced CVD, and paracyclophane-based CVD, with the aim of engineering substrate-independent microbial-resistant surfaces for a broad range of healthcare, membrane separation, food processing, and marine applications. Mechanism-organised design strategies: (1) hydration-driven passive resistance with zwitterionic and hydrophilic polymers, (2) contact-active lysis with quaternary-ammonium and cationic coatings, (3) biofilm-disrupting amphiphilic copolymers with dynamic chain reorientation at three-phase interfaces, (4) hybrid multifunctional architectures combining barrier and biocidal properties. The review highlights the capability of vapour deposition to overcome the solution-processing drawbacks, such as the provision of conformal nanoscale films on complex geometries, formulation devoid of solvents, and precise control of the resulting chemistry. Additionally, they also outline other noteworthy synthetic strategies, including post-CVD derivatisation for generating zwitterions and machine-learning (ML) guided screening of copolymers. Researchers critically evaluate multiple performance assessment practices (protein/bacteria adhesion assays, CFU enumeration, biofilm staining protocols, and LIVE/DEAD viability test) and call for their standardisation for reliable inter-study comparison. The final comments talk about the challenges of scaling up, environmental impacts of fluorinated chemicals, durability under mechanical and chemical stress, and integration possibilities with topographical patterning and stimuli-responsive release systems for the next-generation antimicrobial polymer coatings.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Mahesh Chaudhari
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/22
TI  - Vapor-Phase Thin-Film Polymerization for Microbial-Resistant Surface Functionalization
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Sustainable Micro-Nano Materials & Innovative Technology (ICSUMMIT 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 363
EP  - 383
SN  - 2589-4943
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-727-9_27
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-727-9_27
ID  - Chaudhari2026
ER  -