New Autonomous Water-Enabled Self-Healing Coating Material with Antibacterial-Agent-Releasing Properties.

A new autonomous water-enabled self-healing coating with antibacterial-agent-releasing capability was developed for the first time by precipitating an aqueous solution of hydrogen-bonded tannic acid (TA) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) (TA: 5 mg/mL; PEG: 5 mg/mL with M = 100 kDa) to form a smooth, uniform coating layer with an average roughness of 0.688 nm and thickness of 22.3 μm on a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) substrate after 10 min of incubation.