Surface Disinfection Enabled by a Layer-by-Layer Thin Film of Polyelectrolyte-Stabilized Reduced Graphene Oxide upon Solar Near-Infrared Irradiation

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Abstract
We report an antibacterial surface that kills airborne bacteria on contact upon minutes of solar near-infrared (NIR) irradiation. This antibacterial surface employs reduced graphene oxide (rGO), a well-known near-infrared photothermal conversion agent, as the photosensitizer and is prepared by assembling oppositely charged polyelectrolyte-stabilized rGO sheets (PEL-rGO) on a quartz substrate with the layer-by-layer (LBL) technique. Upon solar irradiation, the resulting PEL-rGO LBL multilayer efficiently generates rapid localized heating and, within minutes, kills >90% airborne bacteria, including antibiotic-tolerant persisters, on contact, likely by permeabilizing their cellular membranes. The observed activity is retained even when the PEL-rGO LBL multilayer is placed underneath a piece of 3 mm thick pork tissue, indicating that solar light in the near-infrared region plays dominant roles in the observed activity. This work may pave the way toward NIR-light-activated antibacterial surfaces, and our PEL-rGO LBL multilayer may be a novel surface coating material for conveniently disinfecting biomedical implants and common objects touched by people in daily life in the looming postantibiotic era with only minutes of solar exposure.
Funding Information
  • Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-13-0547)
  • University of Pittsburgh
  • Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (WK2060200012)
  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FA9550-13-1-0083)
  • Office of Naval Research (N000141310575)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (11074178, 21174138)
  • Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (1308085QB28)

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