Bioinspired, Ultra-Fast Polymerization of Dopamine under Mild Conditions.

ABSTRACT

Spontaneous oxidative polymerization of dopamine (DA) is widely exploited as a facile and versatile method for surface modification. However, the reaction is very slow and only occurs in alkaline solutions, which severely limit its applications. Herein it is reported that the reaction can be dramatically accelerated by using Fe2+ as catalyst. While it takes hours and days using conventional method, the Fe2+ -catalyzed reaction finishes almost immediately at pH 7.0. In addition, under the catalysis of Fe2+ , the reaction can occur at a pH down to 4.0. The fast Fe2+ -catalyzed polymerization of DA leads to fast deposition of polydopamine (PDA) coating, thus allowing fast surface modification and textile dyeing. The Fe2+ -catalyzed reaction also allows spatial control over the PDA deposition. The fast, simple, and mild surface modification method developed here will find applications in numerous fields.