The invention provides novel surface coatings having surface polymer brushes with zwitterionic and antibiotics-conjugated side chains and synergistic anti-fouling and bactericidal properties. The surface coatings may be prepared using highly efficient surface-initiated “living” polymerization. The design of the surface polymer brushes are highly modular, allowing independent tuning of the anti-fouling and bactericidal properties, e.g., by varying the chemical nature of the zwitterionic motif and the antibiotic agent, the chemistry through which the antibiotic agent is conjugated to the polymer side chains, the molecular weight of the polymer brushes (e.g., thickness of coating and density of respective functional motifs), and the spatial arrangement of the respective functional motifs (e.g., homopolymers, block copolymers, random copolymers) to achieve optimal and sustained anti-infection outcome for a given application.
