Slippery lubricant-infused surfaces with anti-fouling and antimicrobial properties for preventing biofouling in biomedical applications

With the annual surge in hospital admissions, the demand for medical treatment, whether invasive or non-invasive, remains constant. While the non-invasive treatments have less severe risks associated with them as opposed to invasive treatments, bacterial infections and improperly implanted device function, such as infection or occlusion of intravenous catheters, are shared concerns among the treatments. Therefore, research has been conducted to modify medical-grade polymers to enable more effective antibacterial and anti-fouling activities. This includes physical modifications to the surface of the material to induce contact bacterial killing and physical removal of biofouling agents through slippery surfaces. However, not all slippery surfaces are created equal. This review aims to assess the scope, efficacy, and limitations of existing strategies to guide the development of more biocompatible materials for medical applications.