A TA–APTES coating as a chemical playground: engineering the shift from chemical traits to bactericidal power in superhydrophobic PU sponges

. Ag@TA-APTES@PU also showed excellent antibacterial activities against both gram-positive and gram-negative pathogenic bacteria. TA-APTES@PU was subsequently modified with a low-surface-energy chemical octadecylamine (ODA), converting the TA-APTES coating directly into a superhydrophobic coating (ODA@TA-APTES@PU), which was suitable for treating oily wastewater. Furthermore, Ag@TA-APTES@PU and ODA@TA-APTES@PU also exhibited remarkable recyclability in the context of dye reduction and oil-water separation, respectively. The results indicated that the TA-APTES coating could serve as an excellent platform for the fabrication of multifunctional materials with desirable properties, making it a highly potential option for the treatment of water contaminated by dyes, bacteria, and oils.