Microbial
fouling is a costly issue, which impacts a wide range
of industries, such as healthcare, food processing, and construction
industries, and improved strategies to reduce the impact of fouling
are urgently required. Slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPSs)
have recently been developed as a bioinspired approach to prevent
antifouling. Here, we report the development of slippery, superhydrophilic
surfaces by infusing roughened poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) substrates
with phosphonium ionic liquids (PILs). These surfaces were capable
of reducing viable bacterial adherence by Staphylococcus
aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa by >6 log10 cfu mL–1 after 24 h
under
static conditions relative to control PVC. Furthermore, we report
the potential of a series of asymmetric quaternary alkyl PILs with
varying alkyl chain lengths (C4–C18)
and counteranions to act as antimicrobial agents against both Gram
+ve and Gram −ve bacteria and illustrate their potential as
antimicrobial alternatives to traditional fluorinated lubricants commonly
used in the synthesis of SLIPSs.
Biofilms are complex environments where matrix effects from components such as extracellular polymeric substances and proteins can strongly affect SERS performance. Here the interactions between SERS-enhancing Ag and Au particles...
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