Abstract
Counteracting the spreading of multi-drug-resistant pathogens, taking place through surface-mediated cross-contamination, is amongst the higher priorities in public health policies. For these reason an appropriate design of antimicrobial nanostructured coatings may allow to exploit different antimicrobial mechanisms pathways, to be specifically activated by tailoring the coatings composition and morphology. Furthermore, their mechanical properties are of the utmost importance in view of the antimicrobial surface durability. Indeed, the coating properties might be tuned differently according to the specific synthesis method. The present review focuses on nanoparticle based bactericidal coatings obtained via magneton-spattering and supersonic cluster beam deposition. The bacteria–NP interaction mechanisms are first reviewed, thus making clear the requirements that a nanoparticle-based film should meet in order to serve as a bactericidal coating. Paradigmatic examples of coatings, obtained by magnetron sputtering and supersonic cluster beam deposition, are discussed. The emphasis is on widening the bactericidal spectrum so as to be effective both against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, while ensuring a good adhesion to a variety of substrates and mechanical durability. It is discussed how this goal may be achieved combining different elements into the coating.
Highlights
Nanostructured materials (NMs) [1,2,3,4,5] represent an active area of research and a techno-economic sector in continuous expansion in many application domains, as shown by the more than 1400 review papers describing NMs applications that have appeared in the last three years
In the case of nanodiamonds with different oxygen-containing surface groups, it is the formation of covalent bonds with proteins and molecules on cell walls to induce a disorder of the bacterial metabolism and, cell death [76], while the exposure to Fe and Cu NPs of two Gram positive (GP) and Gram negative (GN) bacteria species results in the hindering of the normal metabolic pathways [77]
The fact that the NPs are assembled into a coating, which determines a collective behavior in term of physical properties, might influence the killing mechanism
Summary
Nanostructured materials (NMs) [1,2,3,4,5] represent an active area of research and a techno-economic sector in continuous expansion in many application domains, as shown by the more than 1400 review papers describing NMs applications that have appeared in the last three years. A major goal is finding appropriate materials that are able to kill bacteria, such as metal-based NPs [40,41,42,43], and obtaining functional nanostructured surfaces and thin film coatings [44,45] that can limit the spread of bacteria through surfaces These former aspects increase the level of challenge, since the nanomaterial is required to have (1) microbicidal activity against a wide number of multi-drug-resistant Gram negative (GN) and Gram positive (GP) pathogens; (2) tunable mechanical properties and adhesion, to tailor the NPs release and the film durability in different conditions; and (3) cost-effective, environmental friendly production methods with high throughput. This review is devoted to pointing out some aspects of antibacterial coatings, briefly describing what kind of materials can produce antibacterial effects, and the issues related to the composition, mechanical properties and antimicrobial properties of coatings, focusing on some recent examples of coatings obtained with physical deposition techniques
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