Surface Modifiers for Reducing Bacterial Contamination in Medicine and Food Industry

Abstract

Antibacterial coatings are used in the food, textile, and construction industries, as well as in biotechnology and medicine. This review considers the main types of coatings that prevent surfaces from fouling with biomacromolecules and microorganisms, i.e., anti-adhesive, contact-type, release-based, multifunctional, and intelligent (“smart”) coatings. For each type of the coatings, the most relevant and efficient active substances and their action mechanisms are described. Despite the wide use of anti-adhesive surfaces and contact-type coatings, they have many drawbacks that limit the scope of their application and reduce their activity and durability. Numerous studies have shown that multifunctional and intelligent coatings have a high potential for practical application and further studies of their modification aimed at producing universal and economically advantageous coatings. The main problem of the practical application of such surfaces is the imperfection of the methods used to assess the stability and antibacterial properties of the coatings under laboratory conditions.