Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research ›› 2025, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (10): 2105-2112.doi: 10.12307/2025.262

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Antibacterial piezoelectric materials: no selective killing of bacteria and no bacterial resistance

Feng Nan, Li Yunfeng   

  1. Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases & National Center for Stomatology & National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China
  • Received:2024-01-04 Accepted:2024-02-26 Online:2025-04-08 Published:2024-08-23
  • Contact: 李运峰,副教授,硕士生导师,口腔疾病防治全国重点实验室,国家口腔医学中心,国家口腔疾病临床医学研究中心,四川大学华西口腔医院口腔颌面外科,四川省成都市 610041
  • About author:Feng Nan, Master candidate, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases & National Center for Stomatology & National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China
  • Supported by:
    Sichuan Provincial Science and Technology Plan Funding Project, No. 2023NSFSC0570 (to LYF); National Key Research & Development Plan Project, No. 2022YFB3804500 (to LYF); Technology Innovation Research and Development Project of Chengdu Science and Technology Bureau, No. 2022-YF05-01838-SN (to LYF)

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Piezoelectric materials can catalyze the generation of reactive oxygen species, which can destroy bacteria by multiple ways without causing drug resistance. This indiscriminately attack bacteria strategy has obvious advantages over traditional antibiotic therapy, thus providing a novel idea for antibacterial strategies.
OBJECTIVE: To summarize the properties and antibacterial mechanisms of piezoelectric materials and discuss the application status of several piezoelectric materials in the field of anti-bacteria.
METHODS: The literature search was performed in PubMed, Web of Science, CNKI, and WanFang databases. Chinese search terms were “piezoelectric materials, piezoelectric catalysis, reactive oxygen species, antibacterial, bacterial infection, anti-infection, drug resistance.” English search terms were “piezoelectric materials, piezoelectricity, piezoelectric catalysis, piezocatalysis, reactive oxygen species, ROS, bacterial infection, antibacterial strategies, anti-infection, drug resistance, drug-resistant bacteria.” Retrieval time was from January 2013 to December 2023. Primary screening was conducted by reading the titles and abstracts. Repetitive studies and irrelevant articles were excluded. Finally, 68 articles were included for review after literature quality evaluation.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) Piezoelectric materials are stable and environment-friendly materials, most of which show good biocompatibility. (2) Piezoelectric materials can catalyze a large amount of reactive oxygen species in the process of piezoelectric effect, combined with extracellular oxidation and intracellular oxidation, reactive oxygen species can destroy the membrane of bacteria, intracellular proteins, enzymes, and nucleic acids, disorder the structure and function, even kill the bacteria. The antibacterial performance is related to the rate of catalytic generation of reactive oxygen species, and the catalytic efficiency is related to many factors such as material system, morphology, and external conditions. (3) Reactive oxygen species producted by piezoelectric catalysis can kill bacteria without selectivity and show spectral antibacterial activity. This strategy does not rely on antibiotics and does not cause drug resistance. (4) Combined with the advantages of non-invasive, controllable, and penetrating ultrasound, piezoelectric materials will have significant value and great potential in the future as adjunctive or alternative treatments for drug-resistant bacterial infections and other fields. (5) The current challenge of low catalytic efficiency of piezoelectric materials limits its application in the field of antibacterial, how to improve the piezoelectric catalytic efficiency has become the focus of scholars’ attention.

Key words: piezoelectric material, nanomaterial, piezoelectric effect, piezoelectric catalysis, reactive oxygen species, antimicrobial therapy, antibiotics, drug resistance

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