Additively Manufactured Ferroelectric Particulate Composites for Antimicrobial Applications

A polarized ferroelectric material can initiate the micro-electrolysis of water molecules which leads to formation reactive oxygen species (ROS) in an aqueous solution resulting selective bacteria killing. This study presents fabrication, characterization, and antimicrobial performance poled particulate composites. Barium calcium zirconate titanate (BCZT) micro-powder is synthesized by a solid-state reaction mechanically mixed with polycaprolactone (PCL) be subsequently fed into 3D bioprinter for fabrication porous PCL-BCZT structures at four different ceramic loadings (0, 10, 20, 30 wt%). For examination material's capacity handle extremely high contamination, composites are exposed inoculum (Escherichia coli ATCC 25922) ?70% E. degradation recorded end 15 min without any external intervention. The surface bacterial attributed generated species, large area samples polymer matrix's hydrophobic nature, behavior reflected wt% BCZT loading exhibiting best among other state-of-the-art ferroelectrics. Overall, these results indicate that have great potential as materials surfaces.