Durable Surfaces from Film-Forming Silver Assemblies for Long-Term Zero Bacterial Adhesion without Toxicity.

The long-term prevention of biofilm formation on the surface of indwelling medical devices remains a challenge. Silver has been reutilized in recent years for combating biofilm formation due to its indisputable bactericidal potency; however, the toxicity, low stability, and short-term activity of the current silver coatings have limited their use. Here, we report the development of silver-based film-forming antibacterial engineered (SAFE) assemblies for the generation of durable lubricous antibiofilm surface long-term activity without silver toxicity that was applicable to diverse materials via a highly scalable dip/spray/solution-skinning process. The SAFE coating was obtained through a large-scale screening, resulting in effective incorporation of silver nanoparticles (∼10 nm) into a stable nonsticky coating with high surface hierarchy and coverage, which guaranteed sustained silver release. The lead coating showed zero bacterial adhesion over a 1 month experiment in the presence of a high load of diverse bacteria, including difficult-to-kill and stone-forming strains. The SAFE coating showed high biocompatibility and excellent antibiofilm activity in vivo .
Competing Interests: The authors declare the following competing financial interest(s): The University of British Columbia has filed for patent protection on the technology described here. H.Y.-A., K.Y., D.L., and J.N.K. are named as inventors on a PCT patent application submitted. The rest of the authors declare no competing interests.
(© 2022 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)