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Updated: Jun 16, 2026

Fabrication of Large-area Free-standing Ultrathin Polymer Films
Published on: June 3, 2015
Bactericidal and virucidal ultrathin films assembled layer by layer from polycationic N-alkylated polyethylenimines
Sze Yinn Wong1, Qing Li, Jovana Veselinovic
1Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Abstract:
In this work, we designed contact-killing ionically cross-linked polymeric thin films using Layer-by-Layer (LbL) technology. A polycation, N,N-dodecyl,methyl-polyethylenimine, with microbicidal activity was layered with a polyanion, such as poly(acrylic acid), to create LbL films highly effective against both airborne and waterborne Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus (Gram negative and positive bacteria, respectively), as well as influenza A/WSN (H1N1) virus. The dependence of the microbicidal activity on the pH during and post-assembly of LbL film formation, the nature of the polycation and polyanion, the number of layers in the LbL film, and other experimental variables was investigated quantitatively.
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