Water-Based Scalable Methods for Self-Cleaning Antibacterial ZnO-Nanostructured Surfaces
Athanasios Milionis, Abinash Tripathy, Matteo Donati, Chander Shekhar Sharma, Fei Pan, Katharina Maniura‐Weber, Qun Ren, Dimos Poulikakos
Abstract
released to the aqueous medium from the nanostructured ZnO surface have a concentration of 0.73 ± 0.15 ppm, markedly below the legal limit for safe drinking water (5-6 ppm). The same nanostructures, when hydrophobized (through a water-based or fluorine-free spray process), exhibit strong bacterial repulsion, thus substantially reducing bacterial adhesion. Such environmentally benign and scalable methods showcase pathways toward inhibiting surface bacterial colonization.
Topics & Concepts
NanotechnologyWater disinfectionAqueous solutionNanostructureBacterial growthMaterials scienceSurface waterChemistryChemical engineeringBacteriaEnvironmental engineeringEnvironmental scienceOrganic chemistryBiologyGeneticsEngineeringAdvanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting MaterialsLuminescence and Fluorescent MaterialsAdvanced Photocatalysis Techniques