Natural antibacterial surfaces

Abstract

The world has long experienced the impact of surfaces fouling with biofilms, not only in economic terms, but also, importantly, the adverse effect that biofilms can have with regard to public health. In the USA alone, billions of dollars are spent every year cleaning equipment, decontaminating products and cleaning ship hulls, while over 100,000 mortalities are reported annually as a result of infections resulting from medical device implant surgeries that have been compromised by the presence of pathogenic bacteria. Of great concern is that the heavy use of chemicals for neutralising bacterial colonies has resulted in the production of tougher, more resistant strains of pathogenic bacteria, which challenges the scientific community to find new approaches for controlling the formation of biofilms. Recently, the hierarchical structures found on the surfaces of some organisms, such as plant leaves and insect cuticles, have been shown to be superhydrophobic, self-cleaning, and possess bactericidal activity. Since the self-cleaning properties of the lotus leaf were reported in 1997, there has been a great deal of effort put into exploring this approach as a potential method for controlling the formation of biofilms. These discoveries may provide alternative approaches for controlling bacterial behaviour, either before or after the bacteria have attached to a substrate surface. This chapter provides a summary of some of the strategies employed by nature for controlling the colonisation of bacteria on surfaces.