ABSTRACT

Metallic and metal-oxide-based nanomaterials have emerged on the commercial market en masse. Products ranging from sunscreen to stockings have been doped, coated, or otherwise adulterated with nanoparticles intended to improve product functionality, increase activity, or in the case of textiles, prevent or inhibit microbial growth. Product-enhancing nanomaterials function through a wide variety of mechanisms. Many metal-oxide nanomaterials have unique light absorption properties, making them amenable to photocatalytic applications and/or absorption of harmful spectral components, typically ultraviolet light. Antimicrobial nanomaterials are typically grouped into two main categories, inorganic antimicrobial nanomaterials and nanomaterials used as antimicrobial agent delivery vehicles. One of the goals of our research has been to develop model metal nanoparticle composite materials using a simple, scalable, highly controlled deposition process. Initial bacterial growth inhibition studies have shown that our surface-anchored Cu-based nanomaterials are highly effective against a wide range of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.