Deposition Mechanism and Properties of Thin Polydopamine Films for High Added Value Applications in Surface Science at the Nanoscale

Polydopamine films have been introduced by Messersmith et al. as a possible “versatile” surface functionalization method allowing to coat the surface of almost all known materials even superhydrophobic surfaces. These new kinds of coatings also confer a plethora of functionalities to the coated materials owing to the complex chemistry of the catechol quinone moieties present on the surface of polydopamine. These coatings may hence become an interesting alternative to established surface coatings like self-assembled monolayers and polyelectrolyte multilayered films. In this review, we describe the knowledge acquired in the last 3 years about the deposition mechanisms of polydopamine films, their properties, and various applications in surface science at the nanoscale.