Antibacterial properties of TiO2–Cu composite thin films grown by a one step DLICVD process

•TiO2–Cu composite coatings were grown in one step by an original CVD process.•Bactericidal surfaces are durable, non-toxic, and containing low Cu amount of active agent.•Performances of the coatings were assessed using discriminating microbiological tests.

The correlations between microstructural features, chemical compositions and antibacterial properties of coatings containing metallic Cu particles embedded in a titanium dioxide matrix have been determined. A Direct Liquid Injection Chemical Vapor Deposition (DLICVD) process was used for the one step growth of TiO2–Cu composite coatings on various substrates. Titanium tetra-iso-propoxide (TTIP) and copper bis(2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptationate) (Cu(tmhd)2) were used as titanium and copper molecular sources, respectively. This growth process allows a good control of the quantity of metalorganic precursors injected into the CVD reactor and thus of the coating composition. The deposition occurs at 683 K under low pressure (800 Pa). The influence of the main features of the coatings on their antibacterial properties was investigated in order to produce bactericidal surfaces that are durable, non-toxic and containing a minimum amount of active agent. The antibacterial activity on Staphylococcus aureus without any photon activation was measured according to the JIS Z 2801:2000 standard method. An antibacterial activity was detected for a low metal content of ca. 1 at.% Cu, and was found to increase with the Cu content. It was maximal for 3.5 at.% Cu, i.e. TiO2–Cu composite coatings exhibit bactericidal behavior against S. aureus for this optimal composition (relative activity = 100%). In order to better characterize the microbiological behavior of the coatings more discriminating methods derived from the literature were tested to assess the performances of these CVD coatings in terms of efficiency, release of antibacterial agent and accelerated aging.