Functional Hydrogels and Surface Coatings at Biointerfaces

In many advanced applications, the functionality of a material is greatly dictated by its interaction with the surrounding environment. In biological systems, interfacial properties govern essential processes such as protein adsorption, bacterial adhesion, cell attachment, or drug release. Consequently, the success of advanced biomaterials like biocompatible implants, antifouling sensors, or responsive antibacterial coatings strongly depends on controlling these interfacial phenomena.
Hydrogels and thin-film polymer coatings provide versatile platforms to tailor such responses, as their chemical composition and structural morphology can be precisely tuned. By combining molecular-level design with meso- and nanoscale structuring, such as hierarchical surface patterns or periodic film architectures, we aim to understand and direct material-environment interactions. This knowledge allows us to establish design principles that link chemistry and structure to performance, enabling smarter coatings and advanced biomaterials.

1. Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications

Hydrogels are soft, water-rich networks that can be engineered to deliver drugs, prevent infections, or guide cell growth. Especially, physically crosslionked hydrogels are of high inetrest since they can be formed in vivo or in situ at the biointerface. However, traditional commercial systems such as Pluronics® have limitations in mechanical strength and stability, so we develop new hydrogel architectures - including “inverse Pluronics" - with improved robustness and tunable viscoelastic properties. These materials provide better control over how biological molecules are stored and released. One current focus is chronic wound healing, where persistent bacterial biofilms block recovery. We design hydrogel dressings that release quorum sensing inhibitors (molecules that disrupt bacterial communication) while also embedding enzymes capable of breaking down biofilm barriers. This dual action opens new possibilities for advanced wound therapies.

2. Coatings for Functional Interfaces

Alongside bulk hydrogels, we develop polymeric surface coatings that allow precise control over how devices and materials interact with their environment. Polymeric films are flexible and chemically adaptable, making them excellent candidates for antifouling coatings, neural implants, sensors, or optical devices. By combining chemical functionality with structured morphologies, we create surfaces with hierarchical patterns that can influence light, prevent fouling, or support biocompatibility. We use two complementary strategies:

Top-down approaches, such as light-based patterning, to directly create surface features with high precision.
Bottom-up approaches, such as layer-by-layer assembly or polymer brush growth, to build tailored films with controllable architectures.