High Aspect Ratio Nanostructures Kill Bacteria via Storage and Release of Mechanical Energy.
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Authors
Linklater, Denver P
Baulin, Vladimir A
Werner, Marco
Jessl, Sarah
Golozar, Mehdi
Rubanov, Sergey
Hanssen, Eric
Juodkazis, Saulius
Ivanova, Elena P
Publication Date
2018-07-24Journal Title
ACS Nano
ISSN
1936-0851
Publisher
American Chemical Society
Volume
12
Issue
7
Pages
6657-6667
Language
eng
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Linklater, D. P., De Volder, M., Baulin, V. A., Werner, M., Jessl, S., Golozar, M., Maggini, L., et al. (2018). High Aspect Ratio Nanostructures Kill Bacteria via Storage and Release of Mechanical Energy.. ACS Nano, 12 (7), 6657-6667. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.8b01665
Abstract
The threat of a global rise in the number of untreatable infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria calls for the design and fabrication of a new generation of bactericidal materials. Here, we report a concept for the design of antibacterial surfaces, whereby cell death results from the ability of the nanofeatures to deflect when in contact with attaching cells. We show, using three-dimensional transmission electron microscopy, that the exceptionally high aspect ratio (100-3000) of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) imparts extreme flexibility, which enhances the elastic energy storage in CNTs as they bend in contact with bacteria. Our experimental and theoretical analyses demonstrate that, for high aspect ratio structures, the bending energy stored in the CNTs is a substantial factor for the physical rupturing of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The highest bactericidal rates (99.3% for Pseudomonas aeruginosa and 84.9% for Staphylococcus aureus) were obtained by modifying the length of the VACNTs, allowing us to identify the optimal substratum properties to kill different types of bacteria efficiently. This work highlights that the bactericidal activity of high aspect ratio nanofeatures can outperform both natural bactericidal surfaces and other synthetic nanostructured multifunctional surfaces reported in previous studies. The present systems exhibit the highest bactericidal activity of a CNT-based substratum against a Gram-negative bacterium reported to date, suggesting the possibility of achieving close to 100% bacterial inactivation on VACNT-based substrata.
Keywords
carbon nanotubes, interface interactions, mechanobactericidal mechanism, nanoscale mechanics, storage of elastic energy, vertically aligned carbon nanotubes
Sponsorship
MDV and SJ acknowledge support from the ERC Starting Grant HIENA 337739. V.A.B. M.W. and E.P.I. acknowledge funding from Marie Curie Actions under EU FP7 Initial Training Network SNAL 608184.
Funder references
EPSRC (1470335)
European Research Council (337739)
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) Marie Sk?odowska-Curie actions (702435)
European Commission (608184)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.8b01665
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/287728
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