Tunable morphological changes of asymmetric titanium nanosheets with bactericidal properties

Jason V. Wandiyanto, Tasnuva Tamanna, Denver P. Linklater, Vi Khanh Truong, Mohammad Al Kobaisi, Vladimir A. Baulin, Saulius Joudkazis, Helmut Thissen, Russell J. Crawford, Elena P. Ivanova

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

58 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Hypothesis: Titanium and titanium alloys are often the most popular choice of material for the manufacture of medical implants; however, they remain susceptible to the risk of device-related infection caused by the presence of pathogenic bacteria. Hydrothermal etching of titanium surfaces, to produce random nanosheet topologies, has shown remarkable ability to inactivate pathogenic bacteria via a physical mechanism. We expect that systematic tuning of the nanosheet morphology by controlling fabrication parameters, such as etching time, will allow for optimisation of the surface pattern for superior antibacterial efficacy. Experiments: Using time-dependent hydrothermal processing of bulk titanium, we fabricated bactericidal nanosheets with variable nanoedge morphologies according to a function of etching time. A systematic study was performed to compare the bactericidal efficiency of nanostructured titanium surfaces produced at 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 24 and 60 h of hydrothermal etching. Findings: Titanium surfaces hydrothermally treated for a period of 6 h were found to achieve maximal antibacterial efficiency of 99 ± 3% against Gram-negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa and 90 ± 9% against Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, two common human pathogens. These surfaces exhibited nanosheets with sharp edges of approximately 10 nm. The nanotopographies presented in this work exhibit the most efficient mechano-bactericidal activity against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria of any nanostructured titanium topography reported thus far.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)572-580
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Colloid and Interface Science
Volume560
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Feb 2020
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Antibacterial
  • Mechano-bactericidal
  • Nanostructures

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Tunable morphological changes of asymmetric titanium nanosheets with bactericidal properties'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this