# Self-Cleaning Mechano-Bactericidal Surfaces by Metal–Organic Framework Embedded Polycaprolactone Composites

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a self-cleaning material that kills bacteria physically and refreshes itself over time without antibiotics.

## Contribution

The novel contribution is a metal-organic framework embedded composite that enables self-cleaning and sustained bactericidal performance.

## Key findings

- The MoU-PCL composite showed 77.0% antibacterial efficacy against Pseudomonas aeruginosa after 72 hours.
- The composite demonstrated 89.6% antibacterial efficacy against Staphylococcus epidermidis after 72 hours.
- Surface degradation over 4 weeks confirmed debris removal and long-term performance.

## Abstract

Mechano-bactericidal (MB) surfaces mitigate the formation
of bacterial
biofilm through physical interactions without the use of antibiotics.
One challenge of MB surfaces is that unremoved dead bacteria and other
debris on MB surfaces could impede contact between bacteria and surface
nanostructures, thus reducing their bactericidal efficiency. Herein,
we report metal–organic framework (MOF)–polycaprolactone
(PCL) composites as self-cleaning MB surfaces. The MIL-88B-on-UiO-66
(MoU) hybrids with nano features provide MB actions and PCL with biodegradability
enables surface cleaning and refreshment. The MoU-PCL composite demonstrated
effective antibacterial performance toward Pseudomonas aeruginosa (77.0%) and Staphylococcus epidermidis (89.6%)
for 72 h growth. The surface degradation of MoU-PCL composites over
4 weeks confirmed the feasibility of removing surface debris and dangling
MOFs to offer long-term MB performance. Our approach enables the development
of MB surfaces for applications requiring a relatively long service
period.