Effect of corrosion rate and surface energy of silver coatings on bacterial adhesion

Many studies suggest a strong antimicrobial activity of silver coatings. The biocidal activity of silver is related to the biologically active silver ion released from silver coatings. However, no studies have been reported on the effect of surface energy of silver coatings on antibacterial performance. In this paper, three silver coatings with various corrosion rates and surface energies were prepared on stainless steel plates using AgNO3 based electroless plating solutions. The corrosion rate and surface energy of the silver coatings were characterized with CorrTest Electrochemistry Workstation and Dataphysics OCA-20 contact angle analyzer, respectively. The antibacterial performance of the silver coatings was evaluated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA01, which frequently causes medical device-associated infections. The experimental results showed that surface energy had significant influence on initial bacterial adhesion at low corrosion rate. The extended DLVO theory was used to explain the bacterial adhesion behavior.