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Antibacterial Coatings: History
Please note this is an old version of this entry, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Contributor: Huanli Gao

Antibacterial coatings are engineered surface layers designed to suppress bacterial contamination at the interface between a solid substrate and its environment. Their defining property is a measurable capacity to inhibit bacterial growth, reduce bacterial viability, or prevent stable bacterial attachment and the early stages of biofilm formation, through physicochemical characteristics intentionally imparted to the coating [1][2]. Such coatings may function passively by resisting bacterial adhesion—for example, through hydrated, low-fouling, or otherwise surface-repellent chemistries—or actively through bactericidal or bacteriostatic constituents. Active systems act either by releasing antibacterial agents from the coating matrix or by presenting immobilized antimicrobial chemical groups that act upon bacterial contact [1][3]. In the organic-chemistry context, antibacterial coatings commonly comprise polymeric or molecular surface architectures containing organic biocides, cationic functionalities, or other chemically defined antibacterial moieties. The term is distinct from a bulk antibacterial material, for which activity derives from the entire material, and from a transient disinfectant treatment, which does not constitute a persistent surface layer [1][2].

  • antimicrobial polymers
  • contact-killing coatings
  • anti-adhesive coatings

References

  1. Davide Campoccia; Lucio Montanaro; Carla Renata Arciola; A review of the biomaterials technologies for infection-resistant surfaces. Biomaterials 2013, 34, 8533-8554, 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2013.07.089.
  2. Ajay Jose; Marija Gizdavic-Nikolaidis; Simon Swift; Antimicrobial Coatings: Reviewing Options for Healthcare Applications. Appl. Microbiol. 2023, 3, 145-174, 10.3390/applmicrobiol3010012.
  3. Joerg C. Tiller; Chun-Jen Liao; Kim Lewis; Alexander M. Klibanov; Designing surfaces that kill bacteria on contact. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 2001, 98, 5981-5985, 10.1073/pnas.111143098.
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