Design and Properties of Antimicrobial Biomaterials Surfaces

Emergence of antibiotic-resistance pathogens has caused serious health issues and if the current trend is to continue, treatment of the infection will become complicated and even unsuccessful due to new antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Therefore, there is a global drive to identify new methods to treat infection and develop better antibacterial materials and therapy. Although new and more potent antibiotics have aided the fight against microbes, they only offer a temporary solution because future bacteria strains may become resistant to these antibiotics and drugs. Recently, application of non-biological methods such as, electrical currents and photothermal/dynamic therapies to kill bacteria, reveal new approaches to design antimicrobial biomaterials, as complications stemming from drug-resistant bacteria can be obviated. Furthermore, recent research has focused on mimicking the surface patterns on plants and insects such as lotus leaves and dragonfly wings. Bio-inspired micro/nano patterns have been replicated on a variety of biomaterials to improve the bacterial resistance and other properties with good success. This is an exciting research area with immense practical and clinical potentials. In this review, recent advances in the application of chemical/biological approaches to combat bacterial infection and AMR are summarized and the related mechanisms are discussed.