Abstract
Bacteria adhesion on the surface is an initial step to create biofouling, which may lead to a severe infection of living organisms and humans. This study is concerned with investigating the textile properties including wettability, porosity, total pore volume, and pore size in association with bacteria adhesion. As model bacteria, Gram-negative, rod-shaped Escherichia coli and the Gram-positive, spherical-shaped Staphylococcus aureus were used to analyze the adhesion tendency. Electrospun webs made from polystyrene and poly(lactic acid) were used as substrates, with modification of wettability by the plasma process using either O2 or C4F8 gas. The pore and morphological characteristics of fibrous webs were analyzed by the capillary flow porometer and scanning electron microscopy. The substrate’s wettability appeared to be the primary factor influencing the cell adhesion, where the hydrophilic surface resulted in considerably higher adhesion. The pore volume and the pore size, rather than the porosity itself, were other important factors affecting the bacteria adherence and retention. In addition, the compact spatial distribution of fibers limited the cell intrusion into the pores, reducing the total amount of adherence. Thus, superhydrophobic textiles with the reduced total pore volume and smaller pore size would circumvent the adhesion. The findings of this study provide informative discussion on the characteristics of fibrous webs affecting the bacteria adhesion, which can be used as a fundamental design guide of anti-biofouling textiles.
Highlights
Bacteria adhesion and growth on materials are of great concern in many circumstances for public health and safety
That is, when a smooth surface is hydrophobic with contact angle (CA) > 90◦, the roughened surface with the same surface energy further enhances the hydrophobicity; likewise, when roughness is introduced to a hydrophilic surface, it further increases the hydrophilic tendency on the roughed surface [43]
This work sought to determine the effect of wettability and pore characteristics of textiles on the bacterial adhesion in the liquid medium
Summary
Bacteria adhesion and growth on materials are of great concern in many circumstances for public health and safety. Since the textiles have both roughened surfaces and pores within their volume, they provide a dynamic environment for bacteria to adhere, grow, and form biofilms. Such being the case, researchers were motivated to develop antibacterial textiles that can control bacteria adhesion and growth [4,5,6,7,8]. As a preventative measure to bacterial growth on textiles, various antimicrobial treatments such as quaternary ammonium compounds, triclosan, and chitosan have been incorporated into fibers [9]; those materials often fail to kill every organism effectively. Biocidal nanoparticles including silver [10,11,12], copper [12,13], titanium dioxide [14,15,16], and zinc oxide [17,18,19]
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