Modification of stainless steel surface hydrophobicity by silver nanoparticles: strategies to prevent bacterial adhesion in the food processing

摘要

The ability of silver nanoparticles to modify the thermodynamic characteristics of stainless steel surfaces in order to reduce the adhesion process and thereby inhibit bio-film formation was evaluated. We observed that silver nanoparticles were able to decrease the contact angle of stainless steel from 73.20° when conditioned with water to 12.10° making the surface more hydrophilic. Thus, the thermodynamics of adhesion for all the evaluated bacteria was more unfavorable when the stainless steel surfaces were conditioned with the nanoparticles. Regarding the bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus was the most hydrophilic (p<0.05) followed for Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Listeria innocua. Thereby, the silver nanoparticles demonstrated efficiency in inhibiting theoretical adhesion by altering the surface hydrophobicity that can potentially hamper cellular adhesion and prevent biofilm formation.