Knives for microbes
Siberian scientists have created a nanomaterial with antibacterial properties
The development of the modern economy is impossible without the appearance of new materials – for aircraft construction, energy, microelectronics, medicine and so on. One of the most promising areas of work is the creation of nanomaterials, this is done by scientists around the world, including the institutes of Novosibirsk Akademgorodok.
The properties of the material may depend on its chemical composition or structure. The staff of the A.V. Nikolaev Institute of Inorganic Chemistry SB RAS followed the path of changing the structure, more specifically, the orientation of particles, in order to improve the existing characteristics of the material or endow it with new properties. As a result, researchers have found a way to produce vertically oriented lamellar nanoparticles at a relatively low temperature, which is quite simple and important when introducing a particular technological solution into production.
"This orientation makes it possible to place significantly more nanoparticles that make up the material on the same substrate area, as well as to change its properties," said Ivan Sergeevich Merenkov, a researcher at the Laboratory of Functional Films and Coatings of the Institute of Chemical Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Candidate of Chemical Sciences.
Scientists cite a simple analogy: if a high-rise business center is built in the city center instead of a one-story office building, then if an equal area of land is occupied, the number of jobs in the second case will be many times higher, and profits will grow accordingly.
In practice, this method was tested on hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), a material similar in structure to graphite. As a result of the change in the orientation of the h-BN nanoparticles, the material really acquired new properties, in particular, according to the creators, antibacterial. To verify this assumption, the samples obtained were transferred to the scientists of the Institute of Cytology and Genetics SB RAS.
To test the antibacterial properties, a drop containing a bacterial suspension was placed on the surface of the material. After incubation for 1 hour, the scientists estimated how many bacteria survived. It turned out that upon contact with vertically oriented h-BN nanoparticles, more than half of the microorganisms die.
"We assume that such an effect is associated with mechanical damage to the bacterial cell membrane upon contact with h-BN nanoparticles. The sharp tops of these particles can be compared to the blades of knives that cause damage. This discovery is very important when we talk about the use of a new material in practice, for example, as an antibacterial coating of medical instruments," said Tatiana Sergeevna Frolova, senior researcher at the Laboratory of Genetic Engineering of the FITZ ICiG SB RAS, Candidate of Biological Sciences.
Now the researchers intend to study in more detail the mechanism of bacterial death when interacting with nanowalls. Thus, the creation of antibacterial coatings will become more targeted and effective.
The new material, in addition to antibacterial, has other properties that are useful from the point of view of industry – for example, when irradiated with electrons, it begins to emit light. The results of the work of both scientific groups are published in the prestigious Nano Research publication (Merenkov et al., Orientation-controlled, low-temperature plasma growth and applications of h-BN nanosheets).
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