(92c) Development of Biomimetic Nanostructured Surfaces to Combat Bacterial Adhesion and Growth without Antibiotic Treatments

The health and safety concerns caused by bacterial adhesion on surfaces, along with the fast evolution of bacteria with antimicrobial resistance, increase the demand for developing next-generation antibacterial surfaces. Inspired by bactericidal insect wing surfaces, we have developed the biomimetic protrusive nanostructures on silicon and polymer thin films to mechanically kill bacteria upon adhesion without the use of antibiotic treatments and antifouling coatings. We have investigated how bacteria can be killed in mechanical and physical manners by the surface nanostructure as a function of its geometry and stiffness, also studied the bactericidal efficacy against different types of pathogenic strains. In this talk, I will discuss the correlation between nanopillar density and bactericidal efficacy against E. coli as well as the effect of the stiffness of polymer thin films with the optimized nanostructure to kill different types of bacterial strains. The fundamental insight from this work into the role of structural and mechanical properties of nature-inspired nanostructure in bacterial adhesion will offer practical applications for designing diverse polymer thin films such as biomedical implants, food packaging, and public screen touchpads.