Hutasoit Novana, Topa Sanjida Halim, Javed Muhammad Awais, Rahman Rashid Rizwan Abdul, Palombo Enzo, Palanisamy Suresh
School of Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn 3122, Australia.
DMTC Ltd., Hawthorn 3122, Australia.
Materials (Basel). 2021 Nov 9;14(22):6744. doi: 10.3390/ma14226744.
Contact surfaces have been identified as one of the main routes for pathogen transmission. The efficacy to kill both viruses and bacteria on touch surfaces is critical to reducing the rampant spread of harmful pathogens. Copper is one such material that has been traditionally used for its antimicrobial properties. However, most contact/touch surfaces are made up of steel or aluminum due to their structural properties. Therefore, coating high-touch components with copper is one possible solution to improve antibacterial efficacy. In this study, copper was coated on both stainless steel and aluminum substrates using a cold spray process which is a fast and economic coating technique. The coated samples in both as-deposited and heat-treated states were exposed to and bacteria, and their efficacy was compared with bulk copper plate. It was found that both bacterial cells responded differently to the different coating properties such as coating thickness, porosity, hardness, surface roughness, oxide content, and galvanic coupling effect. These correlations were elucidated in light of various results obtained from antibacterial and bacterial attachment tests, and materials characterizations of the coatings. It is possible to tailor copper coating characteristics to render them more effective against targeted bacteria.
接触表面已被确定为病原体传播的主要途径之一。在接触表面上杀灭病毒和细菌的效果对于减少有害病原体的猖獗传播至关重要。铜就是一种传统上因其抗菌特性而被使用的材料。然而，由于其结构特性，大多数接触/触摸表面由钢或铝制成。因此，用铜涂覆高接触部件是提高抗菌效果的一种可能解决方案。在本研究中，使用冷喷涂工艺在不锈钢和铝基板上涂覆铜，冷喷涂工艺是一种快速且经济的涂覆技术。将沉积态和热处理态的涂覆样品暴露于 和 细菌中，并将它们的效果与块状铜板进行比较。发现两种细菌细胞对不同的涂层特性（如涂层厚度、孔隙率、硬度、表面粗糙度、氧化物含量和电偶耦合效应）反应不同。根据抗菌和细菌附着测试以及涂层的材料表征获得的各种结果，阐明了这些相关性。可以调整铜涂层特性，使其对目标细菌更有效。
