Designing antibacterial surfaces for biomedical implants

The infection of biomaterials, particularly medical implants, represents a signifi cant challenge during surgical implantation processes and the subsequent recovery period for the recipient of the implant. Infections arising from such surgical procedures not only adversely affect the well-being of the patient; they also place a signifi cant burden on the healthcare systems of many countries around the world. A great deal of effort has been made in attempts to minimise or prevent pathogenic bacteria from contaminating these biomaterials. These efforts have included the development of techniques for rendering the surfaces anti-fouling through chemical modifi cation or functionalization of the surface. Recent focus, however, has been placed on the production of antibacterial surfaces. Developments in the area of nanofabrication have allowed the chemical and physical characteristics of the surface of implant materials to be modifi ed such that the molecular to micro-scale topological features can now be accurately controlled. This chapter will provide an overview of the current approaches and techniques being used or are being developed in the design of antibacterial metallic implant surfaces. Such surfaces can be subjected to a number of chemical and physical modifi cation techniques to achieve this aim, with the resulting surfaces being found to not only exhibit antibacterial behaviour, but also biocompatibility