A contact active bactericidal stainless steel via a sustainable process utilizing electrodeposition and covalent attachment in water

Abstract

A contact active bactericidal stainless steel was synthesized in water utilizing phenol electrodeposition, followed by covalent attachment of quaternary ammonium salts. The approach minimizes the amount of the antimicrobial agent and avoids its release into the environment. Gram negative and Gram positive bacteria were inactivated upon contact with the modified surface.Bacterial build up on steel surfaces is a serious problem in a number of industries, including food storage and processing devices, medical instruments, and ship hulls. 1 Contact active antimicrobial materials provide a new, promising approach for reducing bacterial adhesion and proliferation. 2,3 The approach involves a durable (usually covalent) linkage of an antimicrobial moiety to a material's surface. Unlike superhydrophobic surfaces that do not allow for the attachment of bacteria and have proven to be an elegant solution in some recent reports, 4 contact active materials can be used in applications where the physical elimination of pathogens is necessary. Being surface linked, the antimicrobial agent is not readily released into the bulk material that would be in contact with the coated surfaces, and is not released into the environment. The modified materials often retain their antimicrobial activity after multiple usages. In addition, the approach minimizes the amount of active material needed to achieve antimicrobial protection. Due to these environmental and operational advantages that satisfy an important green chemistry criterion, contact active antimicrobial materials are of high research and applicative interest for their possible use in a large number of innovative and non-toxic products. 5,6 Quaternary ammonium salts (QAS) have long been recognized as a general solution for disrupting the membranes of a large range of bacteria. 7 Their attachment to surfaces is a strategy for the synthesis of non-leaching antibacterial materials that minimize both the evolution of bacterial resistance and mammalian toxicity. 8 Recently, a number of techniques were developed for conferring antibacterial activity to stainless steel. 9 However, usually such modifications require expensive substrates such as peptides or hyperbranched polymers, a good number of steps to synthesize and/or attach the active substrate, and the use of organic solvents. Activation of stainless steel by non-synthetic methods was also reported. 10,11 For instance, an interesting report on creating QAS surfaces on steel with cold plasma led to excellent antimicrobial activity, however several modification steps were required. 10 An additional interesting approach suggested a vapour polymerization of active materials. 11 In the present report, we aimed at conferring antibacterial activity to steel by surface modification with QAS, with as few synthetic steps as possible that utilized water as the solvent in order to address cost and environmental concerns, thus satisfying a green chemistry criterion in industrial applications. 12 The QAS salt can be modified with a trialkoxysily...

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Eliminating the Need for Biocidal Agents in Anti-Biofouling Polymers by Applying Grafted Nanosilica Instead

“…1,2 Grafting biocidal agents on material surfaces is an effective method that allows reducing bacterial contamination significantly. 3−5 However, biocides are associated with many disadvantages at a local and global scale. 6 Their environmental contamination, 7 health risks, 8 and plausible aid in the development of bacterial resistance 9 have all raised concerns.…”

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