Antimicrobial activity of transition metal acid MoO(3) prevents microbial growth on material surfaces.

Serious infectious complications of patients in healthcare settings are often transmitted by materials and devices colonised by microorganisms (nosocomial infections). Current strategies to generate material surfaces with an antimicrobial activity suffer from the consumption of the antimicrobial agent and emerging multidrug-resistant pathogens amongst others. Consequently, materials surfaces exhibiting a permanent antimicrobial activity without the risk of generating resistant microorganisms are desirable.

Anodic TiO₂ nanotube layers electrochemically filled with MoO₃ and their antimicrobial properties.

In the present work, the authors produce a Ti surface with a TiO₂ nanotube coating and investigate the electrochemical filling of these layers with MoO₃. The authors demonstrate that using a potential cycling technique, a homogenous MoO₃ coating can be generated. Controllable and variable coating thicknesses are achieved by a variation of the number of cycles.