Effects of flow-induced electromagnetic field and surface roughness on antifouling activity of phenolic compounds

Abstract

Microbial fouling involves the physicochemical interactions between microorganisms and solid surfaces. An electromagnetic field (EMF) may change the diffusion rates of microbial cells and the electrical double layer around the cells and contacting surfaces. In the current study, polycardanol exhibiting antibiofouling activity was modified with ferromagnetic iron oxide (IO) to investigate the EMF effects on bacterial adhesion. When there was a flow of electrolyte that contained bacterial cells, flow-induced EMF was generated according to Faraday’s principle. It was observed that the IO-ionic solution (IS)-modified surfaces, with an induced current of 44, 53, 66 nA, showed decreases in the adhesion of bacteria cells more than the unmodified (polycardanol) and IO-nanoparticles-modified ones. In addition to the EMF effects, the nano-scale uniform roughness of the modified surfaces appeared to play an important role in the reduction of cell adhesion. The results demonstrated that the IOIS-modified surface (3.2 × 10⁻⁶mM IO) had the highest antibiofouling activity.

Keywords:

• Antifouling
• bacterial adhesion
• induced electrical current
• surface roughness
• phenolic compounds

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) and a collaboration between The University of Toledo and Wayne State University.