Antibacterial activity of ultrathin platinum islands on flat gold against Escherichia coli

Nanoporous Au exhibits high antibacterial activity (AA) without releasing reactive oxygen species or metal ions, instead its AA depends on the work function (WF) because cell walls are affected by peculiar electronic states at the surface. Based on this mechanism, a flat surface without nanostructure should show high AA if the WF of the surface is suitably tuned. To verify this, ultrathin Pt islands with high WF was fabricated on flat Au by underpotential deposition (UPD) of copper and subsequent redox replacement with Pt, and the AA of the Pt/Au substrate on Escherichia coli was evaluated. The Pt/Au substrate showed higher AA than Pt and Au surfaces, and a positive relationship between AA and WF was demonstrated. In addition, first principles calculations were performed to investigate the mechanism for the high WF of the Pt/Au substrate. The findings suggest that the high WF of the Pt/Au substrate is at least partly due to charge transfer from Au to Pt.