Bacterial Photoinactivation Using PLGA Electrospun Scaffolds.

The use of ultraviolet (UV) and blue irradiation to sterilize surfaces is well established, but commercial applications would be enhanced if the light source is replaced with ambient light. In this paper, it is shown that nanofibers can be explored as an alternative methodology to UV and blue irradiation for bacterial inactivation. It is demonstrated that this is indeed possible using spun nanofibers of poly[lactic-co-(glycolic acid)] (PLGA). This work shows that PLGA spun scaffolds can promote photoinactivation of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli bacteria with ambient light or with laser irradiation at 630 nm. With the optimized scaffold composition of PLGA85:15 nanofibers, the minimum intensity required to kill the bacteria is much lower than in antimicrobial blue light applications. The enhanced effect introduced by PLGA scaffolds is due to their nanofiber structures since PLGA spun nanofibers were able to inactivate both S. aureus and E. coli bacteria, but cast films had no effect. These findings pave the way for an entirely different method to sterilize surfaces, which is less costly and environmentally friendly than current procedures. In addition, the scaffolds could also be used in cancer treatment with fewer side effects since photosensitizers are not required.

First-principles calculations of H, O and OH adsorption on metallic layered supported thin films.

In this work, the adsorption of hydrogen, oxygen and hydroxyl on metallic thin films is studied through first-principles calculations. We explore how the structural and electronic properties of palladium, platinum and gold thin films change with respect to the type of substrate. As a major result we find that Pd/Au(111) and Pt/Au(111) thin films present enhanced adsorption properties for H, O and OH. This improvement is a result of the induced tensile strain on the film due to the misfit between the lattice parameters of the film and the substrate. For these systems, the tensile strain results in a shift of the d-band center position towards to the Fermi level, with implications for the enhancement of adsorption properties. Our results suggest that the location of the unadsorbed d-band center for Pd/Au(111), Pt/Au(111) and Au thin films is a good parameter to predict the reactivity between these surfaces and H, O and OH. However, when considering different numbers of atomic monolayers, changes in adsorption energy are observed and there is no correlation for Pd/Au(111) and Au/Pt(111) films. For Pd/Pt(111) and Pt/Pd(111) films the difference between lattice parameters is relatively small, and no correlation is found, since no considerable strain is induced. In addition, our results support that a compressive strain will always lead to weaker adsorption. We also observe that the work function is strongly affected by adsorption. In particular, H adsorption results in an expansion of the interlayer distance between the topmost layers of the film. Furthermore, after atomic insertion, the interlayer distance of Pd/Pt(111) films is similar to the interlayer distance for bulk PdH0.6, which indicates that these thin films can act as precursor states for hydride formation.