A bacterial infection on the surface of medical apparatus and instruments as well as artificial implants is threatening human health greatly. Antibiotics and traditional bacterial-killing agents, even silver nanoparticles, can induce bacterial resistance during long-term interaction with bacteria. Hence, rapid surface sterilization and prevention of bacterial infection in the long term are urgent for biomedical devices, especially for artificial implant materials. Herein, a hybridized chitosan (CS), silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), and MnO2 nanosheets coating was designed on the surface of titanium plates, which can ensure the implants a rapid and highly effective antibacterial efficacy of 99.00% against Staphylococcus aureus ( S. aureus) and 99.25% against Escherichia coli ( E. coli) within 20 min of 808 nm near-infrared light (NIR) irradiation. The exogenous NIR irradiation can trigger the MnO2 nanosheets to produce enough hyperthermia within 10 min, which can combine with a low concentration of prereleased Ag+ from the coating to achieve superior antimicrobial efficacy through synergistic effects. In contrast, either prereleased Ag ions or a photothermal effect alone can achieve much lower antibacterial efficiency under the same concentration, i.e., 24.00% and 30.01% for the former and 30.00% and 42.54% for the later toward S. aureus and E. coli, respectively. The possible cytotoxicity of coatings could be eliminated owing to the low concentration of AgNPs and chitosan encapsulation. Thus, the novel bifunctional coating Ag/CS@MnO2 can exhibit great potential in deep site disinfection of Ti implants through the synergy of prereleased Ag ions and a photothermal effect within a short time.
Keywords: MnO2 nanosheets; antibacterial; bacterial infection; near-infrared light; photothermal therapy.