Antibacterial fabrics based on synergy of piezoelectric effect and physical interaction

Antibacterial clothes play a key role in reducing the spreading threat of bacteria, thus protecting people’s health. In this work, several kinds of fabrics with high antibacterial efficiency have been demonstrated based on piezoelectric effect of ZnO nanowire (NW) arrays and their physical interaction with bacteria. Piezoelectric effect of NWs under bending can generate interface electrons, and electrons transfer between the bacteria and the NWs can hinder growth of bacteria and cause bacteria death. Electron transfer accounts for about 70 % of bacteria death, while residual 30 % of death is due to the puncture of NWs. The fabrics show remarkable antibacterial properties against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli), with the bactericidal rate of 99.99 %, promising their practical applications. The antibacterial fabrics demonstrated in this work lay a solid foundation for antibacterial clothes.