Super-Repellent Antimicrobial Coatings to Ensure Food Safety

Our objectives are to eliminate bacteria common in processing/packaging facilities by applying a super-repellent antimicrobial coating on various surfaces (including equipment, interior wall, ceiling, drain, storage tank, etc.) in the facility. The nanostructured coating can effectively repel most of the bacteria, and kill the rest that manage to adhere to the surfaces in the facility to ensure food safety.Our goals are two-fold: (1) to synthesize and characterize super-repellent antimicrobial polymeric coatings, (2) to examine the antimicrobial properties and establish structure/property relationships for these coatings. In our targeted super-repellent antimicrobial coatings, the antimicrobial moieties (quaternary ammonium groups) will be covalently bonded to the polymer matrix, preventing them from leaching out into food.The outputs of this project include: (A) Activities: (1) Preparation and characterization of smooth antimicrobial coatings, (2) Preparation and characterization of nanostructured, super-repellent antimicrobial coatings, (3) Preparation and characterization of mechanically robust, super-repellent antimicrobial coatings, (4) Antimicrobial tests, with the aim at understanding the mechanism of antimicrobial actions (killing and/or repelling of bacteria), (5) Mentoring a graduate student. (B) Events: Reporting project findings, when appropriate, in relevant conferences and symposia. (C) Products: Potential patent applications, Peer-reviewed journal publications.