At the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences researchers have developed a new highly effective antibacterial coating that should work well on medical devices. The material is initially a liquid combination of a boron compound blended with colloids of gold. When a substance is introduced to polymerize the material, any solid objects within the bath become coated by a gold composite layer. This happens within just a few minutes and the material is stable, staying effective for a long time after it’s applied.
In laboratory tests, the researchers behind the new coating showed effectiveness against E. coli and Staph. aureus, as well as other bacteria. They demonstrated that the amount of bacteria reduces by around 90% after 21 hours when in contact with the gold nanocompound.
Conveniently, the material is non-toxic to human cells, staying put on a device surface and not actually being released into the body. They actually had human cell cultures grow on top of the antibacterial coating for months, developing normally and maybe even benefiting a bit from the new material.
Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences: Near-perfect antibacterial materials…
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