An active bacterial anti-adhesion strategy based on directional transportation of bacterial droplets driven by triboelectric nanogenerators

An active bacterial anti-adhesion strategy based on directional transportation of bacterial droplets driven by a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) has not been reported to date, although passive defense approaches can prevent bacterial adhesion by regulating superwetting surfaces combined with incorporated antibacterial substances. Here a triboelectric nanogenerator driving droplet system (TNDDS) was built to drive directional transportation of bacterial droplets to be eliminated, which comprises TENG with periodical frictional Kapton film and aluminum foils and a superhydrophobic driving platform (SDP) with paralleled driving electrodes. The current generated by the TENG triboelectricity is transmitted to the paralleled driving electrodes to form an electric field driving the directional transportation of charged droplets. The critical value of the driven droplet volume on SDP is closely related to the distributed electrodes’ distance and width, and the driving distance of droplets is related to the number of electrodes. More crucially, TNDDS can actively drive the charged droplets of prepared triangular silver nanoprisms (Ag NPs) forward and back to mix with and remove a tiny bacterial droplet on an open SDP or in a tiny semi-enclosed channel. Bacteria could be killed by releasing Ag⁺ and effectively removed by TNDDS by regulating the motion direction. Generally, this approach offers a promising application for removing bacteria from material surfaces driven by TENG and opens a new avenue for bacterial anti-adhesion.