ISSN: 2471-9315
Alice R Gillett
University of Chester, UK
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Appli Micro Open Access
Surfaces which prevent bacterial fouling through their physical structure represent a key area of research for food and medical technology. Correlating bacterial adhesion with the physicochemical properties of the surface has seen limited success. However, the ratio between the Liftshitz-Van der Waals and the electron donor component (�?�?�?³LW/�?�?�?³-) has been found to be a good predictor of bacterial adhesion to unmodified biomedical polymers. In this study, advancing and receding contact angles of water, formamide and diiodomethane were used to calculate the physicochemical properties by the Liftshitz-Van der Waals acid-base approach on laser surface engineered polyethylene terephthalate films. Changes in surface characteristics were evaluated through surface roughness and XPS. Morphological changes were observed by SEM and Light microscopes. Escherichia coli attachment was monitored using SEM and enumerated by total viable counts. Preliminary results suggest that using advancing contact angle to calculate the surface energy components yields no relationship between E. coli attachment and the �?�?�?³LW/�?�?�?³- ratio. However, when using the receding contact angle, the adhesion of E. coli reduces as the ratio between �?�?�?³LW/�?�?�?³- decreases. This is significant because receding contact angles have previously been related to the adhesion properties of textured surfaces. Chemical analysis of the engineered surfaces indicate that changes to the �?�?�?³LW, �?�?�?³- components and the wettability of the laser engineered PET, are as a result of surface morphology changes rather than a modification of the chemical structure. Relating the �?�?�?³LW/�?�?�?³- ratio to bacterial adhesion could provide a reliable method for predicting the anti-biofouling capabilities of textured surfaces.
Email: a.gillett@chester.ac.uk