TY - JOUR
T1 - Significant Enhancement of Antimicrobial Activity in Oxygen-Deficient Zinc Oxide Nanowires
AU - Elbourne, Aaron
AU - Cheeseman, Samuel
AU - Wainer, Pierce
AU - Kim, Jaewon
AU - Medvedev, Alexander E.
AU - Boyce, Kylie J.
AU - McConville, Christopher F.
AU - Van Embden, Joel
AU - Crawford, Russell J.
AU - Chapman, James
AU - Truong, Vi Khanh
AU - Della Gaspera, Enrico
PY - 2020/5/18
Y1 - 2020/5/18
N2 - The fabrication of antimicrobial surfaces that exhibit enhanced activity toward a large variety of microbial species is one of the major challenges of our time. In fact, the negative effects associated with both bacterial and fungal infections are enormous, especially considering that many microbial species are developing resistance to known antibiotics. In this work, we show how a combination of a specific surface morphology and surface chemistry can create a surface that exhibits nearly 100% antimicrobial activity toward both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria and fungal cells. Arrays of vertically aligned, oxygen-deficient zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires grown on a substrate exhibit enhanced antimicrobial activity compared with surfaces containing either less defective nanowires or highly oxygen-deficient flat films. This synergistic effect between physical activity (morphology) and chemical activity (surface composition) has been shown to be responsible for the outstanding antimicrobial activity of our surfaces, especially toward notoriously resilient bacterial or fungal species. These findings provide a series of design rules for tuning the activities of antibacterial and antifungal nanomaterials. These rules constitute an excellent platform for the development of next-generation antimicrobial surfaces.
AB - The fabrication of antimicrobial surfaces that exhibit enhanced activity toward a large variety of microbial species is one of the major challenges of our time. In fact, the negative effects associated with both bacterial and fungal infections are enormous, especially considering that many microbial species are developing resistance to known antibiotics. In this work, we show how a combination of a specific surface morphology and surface chemistry can create a surface that exhibits nearly 100% antimicrobial activity toward both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria and fungal cells. Arrays of vertically aligned, oxygen-deficient zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires grown on a substrate exhibit enhanced antimicrobial activity compared with surfaces containing either less defective nanowires or highly oxygen-deficient flat films. This synergistic effect between physical activity (morphology) and chemical activity (surface composition) has been shown to be responsible for the outstanding antimicrobial activity of our surfaces, especially toward notoriously resilient bacterial or fungal species. These findings provide a series of design rules for tuning the activities of antibacterial and antifungal nanomaterials. These rules constitute an excellent platform for the development of next-generation antimicrobial surfaces.
KW - antibacterial
KW - chemical bath deposition
KW - nanostructures
KW - oxygen vacancies
KW - ZnO
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85087689957&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acsabm.0c00065
DO - 10.1021/acsabm.0c00065
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85087689957
SN - 2576-6422
VL - 3
SP - 2997
EP - 3004
JO - ACS Applied Bio Materials
JF - ACS Applied Bio Materials
IS - 5
ER -