Ultra-strong coating inspired by Korean mussels! Next-gen anti-bacterial and anti-viral surface modification technology

□ Professor Bonghoon Kim of the Department of Robotics and Mechatronics Engineering at the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science & Technology (DGIST; President Kunwoo Lee) has successfully developed a next-generation surface modification technology with anti-bacterial and anti-viral contamination properties.

□ The study was conducted in collaboration with Professor Junkyun Oh of the Department of Polymer System Engineering at Dankook University, Senior Researcher Hojun Kim of the Center for Advanced Biomolecular Recognition at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), and Professor Janghwan Kim of the Department of Advanced New Materials Engineering at Ajou University. It was featured as a cover article in the international journal Advanced Healthcare Materials.

□ A notable characteristic of this novel surface modification technology developed in this study is its ability to uniformly form nanometer-thick polydopamine (PDA) layers on a wide range of organic surfaces. This technology enables uniform coating for complex surfaces with curved or microscopic pores, thereby minimizing electrical signal fluctuations caused by bodily secretions and enhancing the stability of bio-signal measurements.

□ While maximizing the bactericidal effect, the PDA layer, combined with the antibiotic tobramycin, inhibits the adsorption of coronavirus on the skin surface, demonstrating its potential for application as medical patches and wearable sensors.

□ The surface modification method effectively eliminates the need to use toxic solvents and a vacuum environment, key limitations of conventional chemical vapor deposition and self-assembled single molecular membrane processes.

□ PDA-based coatings formed rapidly and safely in aqueous solution, and performed equally well on substrates with varying degrees of surface energy and roughness, including skin, fruit peels, and animal tissue. This technology’s broad applicability indicates strong potential for future scalability across diverse sectors, including anti-infection materials, vital sign measurement devices, and the cosmetics and beauty industries.

□ “This study holds significance as it was featured as the cover article in a prestigious international journal,” said Professor Bonghoon Kim. “We will continue to examine how anti-bacterial and anti-contamination functions can be applied in the healthcare and wearable electronic device sectors in the future.”

□ This study was funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea Global Bio-integrated Interfacing Leading Research Center (ERC) and the DGIST Physical AI Center.