Anti-biofouling organogel and substrate independent coatings with a continuous lubricating network

Organogels have distinct advantages over hydrogels in terms of solvent compatibility, mechanical robustness, prolonged thermal and environmental durability, and affinity for hydrophobic compounds. However, organogels have yet to replace hydrogels for biomedical applications owing to toxicity concerns, lack of chemical durability, ease of fabrication, and flexibility of using green solvents. The current work exploits the facile amine-epoxy ring opening reaction to develop a mechanically durable, environmentally and thermally stable organogel that is strategically a) loaded with an antimicrobial and antithrombotic, hydrophobic gasotransmittter therapeutic agent as well as b) infused with a lubricant to achieve complementary anti-biofouling performance. The mechanical properties of the organogel are tunable by modulating the concentration of the cross-linker. The cytocompatible and hemocompatible slippery organogel exhibits resistance to biomass accumulation (>85%) and protein adhesion (>60%). This is a novel investigation of a slippery organogel towards platelet repellence quantification (>80%). Moreover, the as-reported slippery organogel can be extended as robust coatings on different polymeric substrates, metals and glass with water sliding angles <10°. Thus, this work introduces a unique chemical avenue for fabricating a highly durable, self-standing slippery organogel and its derivative coatings with excellent complementary anti-biofouling properties for prospective applicability in blood-contacting medical devices, anti-adhesion, etc.