Mechanical Rupture-Based Antibacterial and Cell-Compatible ZnO/SiO₂ Nanowire Structures Formed by Bottom-Up Approaches

• Main Authors: Taisuke Shimada, Takao Yasui, Akihiro Yonese, Takeshi Yanagida, Noritada Kaji, Masaki Kanai, Kazuki Nagashima, Tomoji Kawai, Yoshinobu Baba
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-06-01
• Series: Micromachines
• Subjects: nanowire structures; hydrothermal synthesis; mechanical-based rupture; antibacterial activity; cell compatibility
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/11/6/610

There are growing interests in mechanical rupture-based antibacterial surfaces with nanostructures that have little toxicity to cells around the surfaces; however, current surfaces are fabricated via top-down nanotechnologies, which presents difficulties to apply for bio-surfaces with hierarchal three-dimensional structures. Herein, we developed ZnO/SiO₂ nanowire structures by using bottom-up approaches and demonstrated to show mechanical rupture-based antibacterial activity and compatibility with human cells. When <i>Escherichia coli</i> were cultured on the surface for 24 h, over 99% of the bacteria were inactivated, while more than 80% of HeLa cells that were cultured on the surface for 24 h were still alive. This is the first demonstration of mechanical rupture-based bacterial rupture via the hydrothermally synthesized nanowire structures with antibacterial activity and cell compatibility.