A nanomolecular approach to decrease adhesion of biofouling-producing bacteria to graphene-coated material

Background Biofouling, the colonization of artificial and natural surfaces by unwanted microorganisms, has an important economic impact on a wide range of industries. Low cost antifouling strategies are typically based on biocides which exhibit a negative environmental impact, affecting surrounding organisms related and not related to biofouling. Considering that the critical processes resulting in biofouling occur in the nanoscale/microscale dimensions, in this work we present a bionanotechnological approach to reduce adhesion of biofilm-producing bacteria Halomonas spp. CAM2 by introducing single layer graphene coatings. The use of this nanomaterial has been poorly explored for antifouling application.