Henna Khosla¹, Wesley Seche², Daniel Ammerman³, Sahar Elyahoodayan⁴, Gregory A. Caputo³, Jeffrey Hettinger³, Shahram Amini^2,5, Gang Feng^1
1Villanova University, Villanova, PA
²Pulse Technologies Inc., Quakertown, PA
³Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ
⁴University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
⁵University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
Metal oxide thin films with antibacterial properties can be deposited via atomic layer deposition (ALD) on the surface of neurostimulation and cardiac rhythm management electrodes to prevent risks of post implantation infections and bacteria colonization. In this work, we report on the development of antibacterial platinum-iridium electrodes using a two-step process. Electrodes are first hierarchically restructured using femtosecond-laser hierarchical surface restructuring technology and then ALD is used to deposit ultrathin metal oxides of ZnO on hierarchically restructured electrodes. Structural, chemical, and mechanical properties of ZnO films were studied using X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and nanoindentation. The antibacterial properties of the ALD-coated electrodes were also studied, particularly, the killing effect on the two common types of bacteria (E. coli and S. aureus) responsible for implantation infections.