Construction of anti-biofouling imprinted sorbents based on anisotropic polydopamine nanotubes for fast and selective capture of 2′-deoxyadenosine

•J-Ag@PDA NTS-MIPs was prepared by grafting MIPs onto the exposed outer surface of PDA NTs and loading Ag NPs in lumen.•AcrU, a functional monomer bearing a complementary thymine base, was used to form hydrogen bonds with adenine base of dA.•J-Ag@PDA NTs-MIPs exhibited fast adsorption equilibrium time, ultra-high adsorption capacity and an excellent imprinting factor.•Antibacterial tests showed the loading of Ag NPs significantly enhances the antibacterial performance of the imprinted sorbent. Development of multifunctional sorbents with specific recognition, rapid separation and biofouling resistance is highly desired for the biological samples full of nutrients. Herein, anti-biofouling imprinted sorbents based on anisotropic polydopamine nanotubes (J-Ag@PDA NTs-MIPs) were synthesized for selective separation and enrichment of 2′-deoxyadenosine (dA). Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) as recognition units were grafted onto the exposed outer surface of as-prepared polydopamine nanotubes (PDA NTs), and then Ag nanoparticles (around 40 nm) as antifouling units were independently loaded in their lumen by in situ growth. By batch mode experiments, J-Ag@PDA NTs-MIPs exhibited a fast adsorption equilibrium time (5.0 min) and an ultra-high adsorption capacity (223.3 μmol g−1) for dA. A high imprinting factor about 4.80 was observed for dA when comparing with the other structural analogues, resulting from the shape, group and size matching of imprinted sites to the template molecules. By evaluating the dA enrichment from spiked human serum solutions, the potential for capturing targeted dA in complex biological samples was confirmed. In addition, the loading of Ag NPs significantly enhanced the antibacterial performance of the imprinted sorbents, which was important for improving anti-biofouling property under complex eutrophic water environment. This work provided an approach for constructing plastic antibody with enhanced adsorption and anti-biofouling performance.