Antipathogenic properties and applications of low-dimensional materials

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 1 - 19
• Main Authors: Shaw, Z. L., Kuriakose, Sruthi, Cheeseman, Samuel, Dickey, Michael D., Genzer, Jan, Christofferson, Andrew J., Crawford, Russell J., McConville, Chris F., Chapman, James, Truong, Vi Khanh, Elbourne, Aaron, Walia, Sumeet
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 23.06.2021; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/326/22; 639/301/357/1018; 639/301/54/990; Antimicrobial agents; Antimicrobial resistance; Design parameters; Drug resistance; Humanities and Social Sciences; Microorganisms; multidisciplinary; Multidrug resistance; Physicochemical properties; Review; Review Article; Reviews; Science; Science (multidisciplinary)
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23278-7

A major health concern of the 21 st century is the rise of multi-drug resistant pathogenic microbial species. Recent technological advancements have led to considerable opportunities for low-dimensional materials (LDMs) as potential next-generation antimicrobials. LDMs have demonstrated antimicrobial behaviour towards a variety of pathogenic bacterial and fungal cells, due to their unique physicochemical properties. This review provides a critical assessment of current LDMs that have exhibited antimicrobial behaviour and their mechanism of action. Future design considerations and constraints in deploying LDMs for antimicrobial applications are discussed. It is envisioned that this review will guide future design parameters for LDM-based antimicrobial applications. Antimicrobial resistance is a growing global problem and low dimensional materials have emerged as a potential solution. Here, the authors review the progress which has been made on low dimensional antimicrobials looking at the materials synthesis, modes of action and currently applications.