Novel antibacterial nanoscale glass surfaces coated with vanadium pentoxide/phosphorus pentoxide (V2O5-P2O5) thin film by the thermionic vacuum arc plasma

In the present study, vanadium pentoxide/phosphorus pentoxide (VP, 50%V2O5 + 50% P2O5) glasses is synthesized by traditional melt-quenching method, and Thermionic Vacuum Arc (TVA) is used to deposit the VP-bulk glass on high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and glass substrates. Morphological, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman analysis showed VP thin films are homogeneous, uniform and nanosized structures on both substrates, and it has a glass structures. Deposition of the VP thin films significantly (p<0.05) increases the hydrophilicity of HDPE substrates decreasing the water contact angle from 80.57°±4.09° to 33.11°±1.37° Escherichia coli O157:H7 ATCC 35150, Listeria innocua ATCC 33090, and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538P are totally inhibited by both VP-coated substrates after 2-h of contact time. Modified Kirby-Bauer tests prove the antibacterial activity of VP-coated HDPE substrates was higher than VP-coated glass substrates against all bacteria. The highest zone of inhibition (43.33±1.77 mm) is observed against Staph. aureus on VP-coated HDE substrates. The study proves the nanoscale structure of the deposited VP thin films is effective in demonstrating antibacterial activity.