This dataset contains all data collected by citizen scientists in support of the publication: “Hansen N, Bryant A, McCormack R, Johnson H, Lindsay T, Stelck K, et al. (2021) Assessment of the performance of nonfouling polymer hydrogels utilizing citizen scientists. PLoS ONE 16(12): e0261817. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261817”.

This study evaluates the performance of several commercially available nonfouling polymers using citizen science, to identify the best performing chemistry for future applications as bacteria resistant coatings. The specific polymer chemistries tested were zwitterionic sulfobetaine methacrylate (SBMA), and polyampholytes composed of [2-(acryloyloxy)ethyl] trimethylammonium chloride and 2-carboxyethyl acrylate (TMA:CAA) or TMA and 3-sulfopropyl methacrylate (TMA:SA). Each polymer chemistry is known to exhibit bacteria resistance, and this study utilizes a citizen science approach to compare the performance of these chemistries.

The methods used to collect this data are described in detail in the paper: “Hansen N, Bryant A, McCormack R, Johnson H, Lindsay T, Stelck K, et al. (2021) Assessment of the performance of nonfouling polymer hydrogels utilizing citizen scientists. PLoS ONE 16(12): e0261817. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261817”.

The polymer chemistries were distributed to the citizen scientists in sets containing three samples: two nonfouling hydrogels and one agar control. The provided data breaks up the results into each subset of polymers and the overall results as both an absolute number and as a percentage of the number of samples. The acronyms used in the data file are as follows:

• TMA:CAA - [2-(acryloyloxy)ethyl] trimethylammonium chloride and 2-carboxyethyl acrylate copolymer
• TMA:SA - [2-(acryloyloxy)ethyl] trimethylammonium chloride and 3-sulfopropyl methacrylate copolymer
• SBMA - sulfobetaine methacrylate
• 1&2 – TMA:CAA and TMA:SA
• 1&3 – TMA:CAA and SBMA
• 3&4 – SBMA and Agar