ABSTRACT
The antibacterial effect is a characteristic of materials’ surfaces that protect them from harmful environments. Researchers and engineers have investigated the correlation between materials and bacterial growth on them and determined that the bacterial growth differs from material to material. Therefore, bacteria in various environments attach to materials’ surfaces and grow on them. When considering the antibacterial effect of materials, we need to focus on two characteristics and phenomena. One of them is the force between materials’ surfaces and bacteria. The other is the controlling capability of materials’ surfaces against bacteria. Based on these viewpoints, we should classify them into several types and consider each case very carefully. Usually, materials can be classified into three types: metallic materials, inorganic materials (mainly ceramics), and organic materials. In this chapter, we provide a general sketch about the three types of materials and discuss them in terms of the two viewpoints mentioned earlier. Then, we focus on ceramics.
Antibacterial effects for materials’ surfaces are independent of time. When we take the time dependence into consideration, then we are not allowed to ignore the concept of biofilms. For the future, biofilm problems on ceramics and the antiviral effect will be important.
