A universal strategy for the preparation of anti-fouling coatings

Biological contamination and surface fouling remain major obstacles to the reliable performance of materials across biomedical, industrial, and environmental settings. However, conventional anti-fouling coatings typically require time-consuming fabrication and harsh reaction conditions, limiting their practical use. Herein, we report a universal strategy for constructing anti-fouling coatings using tannic acid (TA) as a versatile building block. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was employed to quantitatively evaluate the interfacial adhesion forces between proteins and anti-fouling substrates. The results demonstrate that this approach enables the rapid fabrication of diverse anti-fouling coatings, including polyethylene glycol (PEG) and zwitterionic layers, on various substrates (e.g., gold, silicon, and graphite). These TA-mediated coatings effectively reduce protein adsorption, inhibit cell adhesion, and suppress bacterial colonization. Moreover, this strategy was extended to nanoparticle surface modification, conferring remarkable immune evasion and stealth properties. In vivo studies revealed significantly enhanced tumor accumulation and improved magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sensitivity, enabling high-contrast diagnostic imaging. This work provides a robust and universal platform for engineering multifunctional nanomaterials with prolonged circulation, anti-fouling performance, and enhanced imaging capabilities for biomedical applications.