| abstract |
Biocompatible polymer-coated transition metal chalcogenide (TMC) nanomaterials are provided herein. In particular, provided herein are two-dimensional polymer-coated TMC nanomaterials having excellent antimicrobial properties and biocompatibility, as well as methods of inhibiting microbiological growth on, or in, devices coated by or otherwise comprising the biocompatible polymer-coated transition metal chalcogenide (TMC) nanomaterials. In some cases, the biopolymer coating encapsulating the TMC nanomaterial comprises short synthetic single-stranded DNAs (ssDNAs). As described herein, ssDNA-encapsulated TMDCs exhibit no cytotoxicity against human cell lines at concentrations up to 0.25 mg/mL, but they exhibit exceptionally strong bactericidal activity against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli and a gram-positive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strain. In other cases, TMDCs encapsulated by poly-L-lysine and Pluronic F77 display strong activity against multi drug resistance bacteria and form coatings that strongly inhibit bacterial biofilms, while TMDCs encapsulated by chitosan exhibit strong activity against fungi. |