(73f) Essential Oil-Loaded Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for the Development of Multifunctional Nonfouling Coatings

Bacterial adhesion to the materials surfaces is one of the most common causes of bacterial infections and diseases. In the past decade, antifouling coatings have received increasing interest to tackle this grand challenge in the area of surface hygiene and microbiological safety. Herein, we report a multifunctional antibacterial coating based on simultaneous release-inactivation and superhydrophobic antiadhesion strategy. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles were synthesized and chemically functionalized to play a dual role. On one hand, deposition of silica nanoparticles generated appropriate roughness with low surface energy, which formed a superhydrophobic surface and reduced the contact between bacteria and surface. On the other hand, the particle pores were loaded with cinnamon essential oil, which is a natural bactericidal agent with health benefits to inactivate planktonic bacteria after released into the medium. Such coating was characterized by XRD, ATR-FTIR, UV-vis, SEM and TEM, and exhibited great antibacterial and antiadhesion activities with a 99.9% reduction for Gram-negative E coli and 99.6% for Gram-positive S. aureus. It also showed robust mechanical durability through scratching test and good chemical durability through acid/base treatment. Together with its advantages of facile, low-cost and universal fabrication, as well as its metal-free and fluorine-free properties, we anticipate this nanoparticle-based coating has great prospect in reducing the potential risk of bacterial contamination in biomedical applications and food industry.