Abstract
Cross-infection following cross-contamination is a serious social issue worldwide. Pathogens are normally spread by contact with germ-contaminated surfaces. Accordingly, antibacterial surface technologies are urgently needed and have consequently been actively developed in recent years. Among these technologies, biomimetic nanopatterned surfaces that physically kill adhering bacteria have attracted attraction as an effective technological solution to replace toxic chemical disinfectants (biocides). Herein, we introduce a transparent, colorless, and self-disinfecting polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film that mimics the surface structure of the Progomphus obscurus (sanddragon) wing physically killing the attached bacteria. The PET film was partially etched via a 4-min carbon tetrafluoride (CF4) plasma treatment. Compared to a flat bare PET film, the plasma-treated film surface exhibited a uniform array structure composed of nanopillars with a 30 nm diameter, 237 nm height, and 75 nm pitch. The plasma-treated PET film showed improvements in optical properties (transmittance and B*) and antibacterial effectiveness over the bare film; the transparency and colorlessness slightly increased, and the antibacterial activity increased from 53.8 to 100% for Staphylococcus aureus, and from 0 to 100% for Escherichia coli. These results demonstrated the feasibility of the CF4 plasma-treated PET film as a potential antibacterial overcoating with good optical properties.
Highlights
IntroductionPolyethylene terephthalate (PET) film, often called polyester film, is a versatile plastic used in a variety of applications including packaging (e.g., food, pharmaceutical, health care, medical, industrial, and chemical packaging), electrical (photo-sensitive resistors, insulators, cable and wire wrap, capacitors, circuits), and imaging (X-ray film, instant photos) applications [1]
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film, often called polyester film, is a versatile plastic used in a variety of applications including packaging, electrical, and imaging (X-ray film, instant photos) applications [1]
The polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film was subjected to CF4 reactive-ion etching (RIE) using 13.56 MHz radio-frequency plasma equipment (LAT, Osan, Korea)
Summary
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film, often called polyester film, is a versatile plastic used in a variety of applications including packaging (e.g., food, pharmaceutical, health care, medical, industrial, and chemical packaging), electrical (photo-sensitive resistors, insulators, cable and wire wrap, capacitors, circuits), and imaging (X-ray film, instant photos) applications [1]. This is due to its inherent useful qualities such as colorlessness, transparency (clarity), flexibility (or rigidity, depending on the film thickness), flatness, durability, high thermal and electrical insulability, and excellent resilience against impacts, moisture, chemicals, and high temperatures [1]. Various techniques such as spin-coating, dip-coating, grafting, doctor blading, layer-by-layer, spermine-functionalization, magnetron sputtering, and chemical vapor deposition have been mainly used to fabricate surfaces with antimicrobial, antifouling, and self-cleaning properties [4,5,6]
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