Antibacterial performance of polypropylene nonwoven fabric wound dressing surfaces containing passive and active components

•PNVP and PHMG components were covalently immobilized on PPNWF surface.•PPNWF-g-PNVP-PHMG possessed bacterial adhesion-resistant and bactericidal capabilities.•PPNWF-g-PNVP-PHMG obviously suppressed platelet and red blood cell adhesion. A growing number of wound dressing-related nosocomial infections necessitate the development of novel antibacterial strategies. Herein, polypropylene non-woven fabric (PPNWF) was facilely modified with passive and active antibacterial components, namely photografting polymerization both N-Vinyl-2-pyrrolidone (NVP) and glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) monomers, and the introduction of guanidine polymer through the reaction between active amino groups and epoxy groups. The modified samples were confirmed by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. Water contact angle measurement, antibacterial test, platelet and red blood cell adhesion were used to evaluate the hydrophilicity, antibacterial properties and hemocompatibility of the samples. It was found that the antibacterial properties were obviously enhanced, meanwhile significantly suppressing platelet and red blood cell adhesion after the above modification. This PPNWF samples that possess antifouling and antimicrobial properties, have great potential in wound dressing applications.