Premium
Black Phosphorus Nanosheets Counteract Bacteria without Causing Antibiotic Resistance
Author(s) -
Liu Wenxin,
Zhang Yinan,
Zhang Yanling,
Dong Alideertu
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201905134
Subject(s) - antibiotics , antibiotic resistance , bacteria , antibacterial activity , black phosphorus , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , materials science , optoelectronics , genetics
Antibiotic resistance poses severe health threats throughout the world. Exploring new antibiotics is widely recognized as an effective strategy to counter antibiotic resistance, but new antibiotics will eventually lead to further antibiotic resistance when new drugs are misused or overused. An alternative tactic may be antibacterial regulation on demand. Here, we show experimentally and theoretically that unstable black phosphorus nanosheets (BPNs) can function as antibacterial agents without causing antibiotic resistance. This antibacterial strategy relies on an unprecedented synergism: The BPNs use reactive oxygen species, are not toxic towards nonbacterial cells within a wide range of BPN concentration (0.01–2.0 mg mL −1 ), and are chemically degradable on demand. BPNs thus offer a promising approach to fighting bacterial infections without causing antibiotic resistance. We believe this proposed strategy offers new insights into instability‐guided antibacterial therapy in clinical applications and indicates a new direction for fighting antibiotic resistance.