Organosilicate based superhydrophilic nanofilm with enhanced durability for dentistry application

• Organosilicate-based superhydrophilic coating was prepared onto mouthguards.
• As-prepared coating shows highly biocompatible and low cytotoxicity properties.
• Physical strength of a thin film-coated PETG substrate was significantly improved.
• This coating is expected to be a powerful platform for other biomedical devices.

The present work presents a layer-by-layer assembled nano-film with enhanced stability onto mouthguards for the first time. To obtain high thermal and mechanical durability of modified mouthguards, the silicon-based material, silsesquioxane and silica nanoparticle matrix (SiSQ), was introduced into nanofilms. Moreover, with the help of hydrogen-bonding interactions between SiSQ and a bio-compatible building block of branched polyethyleneimine (BPEI), (BPEI/SiSQ)n nanofilms were successfully prepared. Anti-bacterial property of treated mouthguards is expected to be shown in terms of film superhydrophilicity. Above all, this organosilicate-based superhydrophilic nano-film with biocompatibility and enhanced durability is of great significance, which can be applied to other biomedical platforms.

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