Antibacterial and bactericidal properties of resin nanostructures coated with SiO2 thin films

Nanotextures exhibit physical antibacterial and bactericidal properties; hence, they have great potential to prevent infection related to bacteria through contact. The surface characteristics of a nanostructure determine its antibacterial and bactericidal activities. In this study, an atomic layer deposition (ALD) was used to prepare nano-level, hard, thin SiO2 layers on resin nanostructures and their effects were demonstrated through antibacterial and bactericidal tests. The SiO2-layer-coated resin nanostructure exhibited a water contact angle of 7.2°, dramatically lower than that of the uncoated specimen (130.2°), as well as a three-fold higher local elastic modulus. Further, 10-nm-thin SiO2-layer-coated nanopillars showed antibacterial and bactericidal effects against E. coli. These results demonstrate that SiO2 thin layer coating has great potential for improving the antibacterial and bactericidal properties of polymeric nanopillar arrays.