Antibacterial properties of poly(quaternary ammonium) modified gold and titanium dioxide nanoparticles

We report excellent antibacterial effect induced by amine-functionalized gold and titanium dioxide nanoparticles without external excitations. The idea originates from the excellent antibacterial property of quaternary ammonium salts. The effects of poly(quaternary ammonium) and polyacrylate sodium functional groups as nanoparticle surfactants are compared to show that poly(quaternary ammonium) functional groups are the main cause of the induced antibacterial effect. 99.999% of E. coli can be destructed in 10 minutes by simply mixing bacteria with nanoparticle dispersions. The effect of nanoparticle concentrations on the antibacterial property is evaluated. Time required to significantly suppress bacteria growth is studied. The result indicates that the excellent antibacterial property can be introduced to any nanomaterials by using poly(quaternary ammonium) functional groups as surfactants. The engineered nanoparticles can find enormous applications such as self-cleaning surfaces, waste water treatment, Lab-on-a-Chip devices and many more.