Tuning the Topography of Non‐Wetting Surfaces to Reduce Short‐Term Microbial Contamination Within Hospitals

Abstract Microbial contamination of hospital surfaces is a major contributor to infectious disease transmission. This work demonstrates that superhydrophobic (Cassie‐Baxter) micro post topographies can significantly reduce cell attachment compared to flat controls. For ordered micro post arrays (post diameters 0.3 to 150 µm), the attachment of four pathogens ( Pseudomonas aeruginosa , Staphylococcus aureus , Escherichia coli , and Candida albicans ) from discrete contaminant droplets upon short‐term contact (15 s to 30 min) are assessed. There is a 3‐4‐log decrease in microbial attachment when reducing the micro posts diameters from 150 to 0.3 µm for all strains, with large posts (>20 µm) exhibiting similar attachment rates to flat controls. The critical, maximum feature size to prevent attachment can be tuned depending on the ratio of the cell size to post diameter. Two potential mechan…