The Electro-Thermal Antimicrobial Carbon Surface

Abstract

Microorganisms on the surface are important contributors to producing a serious threat to global public health. Herein, we introduce an electro-thermal antimicrobial carbon surface. When a 9 V direct voltage was applied to the carbon surface, the carbon fibre surface temperature reached 80 °C. This electro-thermal-based antimicrobial carbon surface showed outstanding inactivation performance, exhibiting a potent inactivation rate of ∼99.99% against Gram-positive bacteria ( <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Staphylococcus epidermidis</i> ) and Gram-negative bacteria ( <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Escherichia coli</i> ) in just 10 min. Interestingly, under the same temperature, when alternating voltages were applied, electro-thermal antimicrobial performance was enhanced, resulting in a >6.0 log reduction against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. In addition, under alternating voltage applied conditions, this excellent electro-thermal-based antimicrobial performance was maintained even at a lower surface temperature (50 °C).