Nanoscale | 2019
Tailored Ag-Cu-Mg multielemental nanoparticles for wide-spectrum antibacterial coating.
Abstract
Bactericidal nanoparticle coatings are very promising for hindering the indirect transmission of pathogens through cross-contaminated surfaces. The challenge, limiting their employment in nosocomial environments, is the ability of tailoring the coating s physicochemical properties, namely, composition, cytotoxicity, bactericidal spectrum, adhesion to the substrate, and consequent nanoparticles release into the environment. We have engineered a new family of nanoparticle-based bactericidal coatings comprising Ag, Cu, and Mg and synthesized by a green gas-phase technique. These coatings present wide-spectrum bactericidal activity on both Gram-positive and Gram-negative reference strains and tunable physicochemical properties of relevance in view of their on-field deployment. The link between material and functional properties is rationalized based on a multidisciplinary and multitechnique approach. Our results pave the way for engineering biofunctional, fully tunable nanoparticle coatings, exploiting an arbitrarily wide number of elements in a straightforward, eco-friendly, high-throughput, one-step process.