Morphological impact of zinc oxide particles on the antibacterial activity and human epithelia toxicity.

ZnO nanoparticles are utilized in an ever growing number of products and can, therefore, be readily encountered in our everyday life. Human beings' outermost tissues consist of different epithelia and are, therefore, the most exposed to materials from the environment. In this paper, Caco-2 and Calu-3 cell lines were used, having been previously broadly applied for in vitro modelling of intestinal and respiratory epithelia, respectively.

Amino- and ionic liquid-functionalised nanocrystalline ZnO via silane anchoring - an antimicrobial synergy.

The synthesis of highly antimicrobial nanocrystalline zinc oxide and its covalent modifications are presented. In order to achieve further improvement of antimicrobial activity, the surface of ZnO was effectively modified with selected silanes comprising amino- and ionic liquid-functionalities. We demonstrate for the first time ionic liquid surface immobilization on ZnO and the application of this hybrid material for antimicrobial purposes.