Micro-Nano Patterning of Solid Surfaces for Enhanced Antibacterial Properties-Challenges and Opportunities

Bacteria resistant films and coatings being used today are highly toxic to the human body. Micro-nano patterns deliberately created over solid surfaces that counter microbial activity is an emerging technology in preventing hospital acquired infections (HAI), to provide personalized healthcare. This paper is focused on defining the optimized surface topologies and micro-nano patterning over solid surfaces. Preliminary studies on designing surface topologies and micro-nano patterning has been carried out. The feasibility of adopting nano-scratching, micro-milling, micro-EDM and laser machining for direct patterning over amorphous bulk metallic glass (BMG) and PDMS is investigated. Effect of pattern geometry on bacterial physiology and opportunities for integrating these mechanical based micro-nano manufacturing protocols are discussed.