Citation: Sirui Chen, Ran Zhao, Li Dong, Qilin Liu, Wei Chen, Danna Liu, Maosheng Ye, Yingbo Li, Qiong Nie, Jingxin Meng, Shutao Wang. Smart antifouling coating integrating zwitterionic hydrogel with pH-responsive microcapsules for anti-crystal biofilm of orthodontic appliances[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2025, 36(12): 111647. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111647 shu

Smart antifouling coating integrating zwitterionic hydrogel with pH-responsive microcapsules for anti-crystal biofilm of orthodontic appliances

Sirui Chen ^a ,
Ran Zhao ^{b, c} ,
Li Dong ^a ,
Qilin Liu ^{b, c} ,
Wei Chen ^{b, c} ,
Danna Liu ^{b, c} ,
Maosheng Ye ^{b, c} ,
Yingbo Li ^{b, c} ,
Qiong Nie ^{a, *,} ,
Jingxin Meng ^{b, c, *,} ,
Shutao Wang ^{b, c}

a.
Department of Orthodontics, Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology & National Center for Stomatology & National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases & National Engineering Research Center of Oral Biomaterials and Digital Medical Devices & Beijing Key Laboratory of Digital Stomatology & NHC Key Laboratory of Digital Stomatology & NMPA Key Laboratory for Dental Materials, Beijing 100081, China
b.
Laboratory of Bio-inspired Smart Interface Science, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
c.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), Beijing 100049, China

nieqiong@bjmu.edu.cn

mengjx628@mail.ipc.ac.cn

Received Date: 14 April 2025
Revised Date: 28 July 2025
Accepted Date: 29 July 2025
Available Online: 30 July 2025

Figures(4)

Orthodontic appliances are essential for dentofacial deformity corrections. However, orthodontic appliances inadvertently increase the risk of bacterial colonization and dental calculus formation, which may lead to dental caries and gingivitis. Herein, this study developed a pH-responsive antifouling coating by integrating a zwitterionic hydrogel (ZH) with pH-responsive microcapsules (PRMs) encapsulating bactericide, displaying excellent synergies of anti-bacteria and anti-calculus for orthodontic appliances. The excellent antifouling properties can be attributed to two following points: ZH provides anti-adhesion properties via electrostatically induced hydration layers, while the PRMs can kill bacteria by on-demand bactericide release under acidic conditions. Results demonstrated that ZH+PRMs coating significantly reduced bacterial adhesion and inhibited calculus formation while maintaining excellent biocompatibility. By optimizing PRMs concentrations (0–15 wt%), compared with ZH, the antibacterial efficiency of ZH+PRMs (optimal concentration 10 wt%) increased from 49.8% ± 7.3% to 95.2% ± 1.1% for E. coli and from 85.7% ± 3.5% to 91.3% ± 1.4% for S. mutans. Compared with pristine steel (SS), ZH+PRMs coating showed ca. 97.0% reduction for calcium carbonate and ca. 87.3% reduction for calcium phosphate. In an in vitro model, compared with SS, our coating extended the crystal biofilm inhibition effect from one day to five days. Therefore, this study can provide promising strategies for reducing the risk of dental caries and gingivitis during orthodontic treatment.
- pH-responsive,
- Zwitterionic hydrogel,
- Microcapsules,
- Orthodontic appliances,
- Antifouling
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