Superomniphobic and Photoactive Surface Presents Antimicrobial Properties by Repelling and Killing Pathogens.

Healthcare-acquired infections place a significant burden on the cost and quality of patient care in hospitals. Reducing contamination on surfaces within healthcare environments is critical for halting the spread of these infections. Herein, we report a bifunctional─repel and kill─surface developed using photoactive TiO nanoparticles integrated into a hierarchical scaffold (OmniKill).

A universal bacterial sensor created by integrating a light modulating aptamer complex with photoelectrochemical signal readout.

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) signal transduction is of great interest for ultrasensitive biosensing; however, signal-on PEC assays that do not require target labeling remain elusive. In this work, we developed a signal-on biosensor that uses nucleic acids to modulate PEC currents upon target capture. Target presence removes a biorecognition probe from a DNA duplex carrying a gold nanoparticle, bringing the gold nanoparticle in direct contact to the photoelectrode and increasing the PEC current.