Researchers from China revealed the fabrication of a robust and wear-resistant polyurethane-based coatings via the addition of fluoro-containing quaternary ammonium compounds (QAC_F) modified silica nanoparticles. A classical Stöber process was used to obtain nanoparticles with a thin layer of thiol groups on the particle surface. Then, through double bond and thiol group reaction, QAC_F is then further linked to the particle surface.

It was shown that QAC_F and its modified silica nanoparticles both show high levels of antibacterial properties toward Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria. Moreover, an antibacterial coating with excellent anti-wear resistance due to the self-migration of the modified silica nanoparticles to the surface layer of the coating was obtained by addition of nanoparticles as less as 10 wt% in the formulation recipe. It was concluded that compared to coatings with added pure antibacterial reagents, coating developed in this research shows enhanced anti-wear property at relatively low particle additions.

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