Novel antibacterial silver-silica surface coatings prepared by chemical vapour deposition for infection control.

AIMS: Environmental contamination plays an important role in the transmission of infections, especially healthcare-associated infections. Disinfection transiently reduces contamination, but surfaces can rapidly become re-contaminated. Antimicrobial surfaces may partially overcome that limitation. The antimicrobial activity of novel surface coatings containing silver and silica prepared using a flame-assisted chemical vapour deposition method on both glass and ceramic tiles was investigated. METHODS AND RESULTS: Antimicrobial activity against a variety of bacteria including recent clinical isolates was investigated based on the BS ISO 22196:2007 Plastics--Measurement of antibacterial activity on plastics surfaces, British Standards Institute, London, method. Activity on natural contamination in an in use test in a toilet facility was also determined. Activity on standard test strains gave a log10 reduction of five after 1-4 h. The hospital isolates were more resistant, but MRSA was reduced by a log10 reduction factor of >5 after 24 h. Activity was maintained after simulated ageing and washing cycles. Contamination in situ was reduced by >99.9% after 4 months. Activity was inhibited by protein, but, although this could be overcome by increasing the amount of silver in the films, this reduced the hardness of the coating. CONCLUSIONS: The coatings had a good activity against standard test strains. Clinical isolates were killed more slowly but were still sensitive. The optimum composition for use therefore needs to be a balance between activity and durability. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The coatings may have applications in health care by maintaining a background antimicrobial activity between standard cleaning and disinfection regimes. They may also have applications in other areas where reduction in microbial contamination is important, for example, in the food industry.

Non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma etching of F:SnO2 for thin film photovoltaics.

Thin film based photovoltaic systems offer significant advantage over wafer based technologies enabling the use of low cost, large area substrates such as glass, greatly facilitating the construction and integration of large modules. The viability of such systems has advanced in recent years, with researchers striving to optimise performance through the development of materials and cell design. One way to improve efficiency is to texture the interface between the TCO and the absorber layer to maximise scattering over the appropriate wavelength range, with nanometre scale features such as pyramids being reported as giving high scatter. These textures may be achieved by advanced growth processes, such as CVD, post growth etching or a combination of both. In this work, textured F:SnO2 films produced by APCVD were favourably modified using a remote, non thermal, atmospheric plasma to activate a selective dry etch process resulting in significantly enhanced topography. Uniform treatment of the samples was achieved by translation of the samples below the plasma head. Advantages of this approach, compared to competitive technologies such as wet chemical processes, are the relatively low power consumption and ease of scalability and retroprocess integration. The modified structures were studied using AFM, SEM and EDAX, with the observed topography controlled by process variables. Optical properties were assessed along with Hall measurements.