Comparative study of surface modification of titanium to improve antimicrobial properties in condenser material

摘要

Biofouling of titanium is a common and established problem in aquatic environment which is used for various cooling purpose in industries. Conventional strategies to control biofouling like mechanical sponge ball scrubbing and chemical treatment like chlorination are rather ineffective in combating biofilm generation. Hence these calls for renewed efforts to establish novel methodologies for eliminating multicelluar bacterial communes entrained in these biofilms. Metal nanoparticles are known to exhibit enhanced physical and chemical properties when compared to their bulk counter parts because of their high surface to volume ratios. Copper (Cu) and copper alloys like copper-nickel (Cu-Ni) are well known to have excellent resistance to biofouling and hence are used extensively for marine applications. Therefore it is possible to modify the bacterial growth dynamics thereby reducing bacterial attachment to titanium surfaces.