title: Combinatorial development of antibacterial Zr-Cu-Al-Ag thin film metallic glasses.
abstract: Metallic alloys are normally composed of multiple constituent elements in order to achieve integration of a plurality of properties required in technological applications. However, conventional alloy development paradigm, by sequential trial-and-error approach, requires completely unrelated strategies to optimize compositions out of a vast phase space, making alloy development time consuming and labor intensive. Here, we challenge the conventional paradigm by proposing a combinatorial strategy that enables parallel screening of a multitude of alloys. Utilizing a typical metallic glass forming alloy system Zr-Cu-Al-Ag as an example, we demonstrate how glass formation and antibacterial activity, two unrelated properties, can be simultaneously characterized and the optimal composition can be efficiently identified. We found that in the Zr-Cu-Al-Ag alloy system fully glassy phase can be obtained in a wide compositional range by co-sputtering, and antibacterial activity is strongly dependent on alloy compositions. Our results indicate that antibacterial activity is sensitive to Cu and Ag while essentially remains unchanged within a wide range of Zr and Al. The proposed strategy not only facilitates development of high-performing alloys, but also provides a tool to unveil the composition dependence of properties in a highly parallel fashion, which helps the development of new materials by design.
authors.affiliation: Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena, Yale University, New Haven CT 06511, USA.|Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Yale University, New Haven CT 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Yanhui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena, Yale University, New Haven CT 06511, USA.|Department of Biomedical Engineering, Yale University, New Haven CT 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Jagannath
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Padmanabhan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Yale University, New Haven CT 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Bettina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.affiliation: Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena, Yale University, New Haven CT 06511, USA.|Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Yale University, New Haven CT 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Jingbei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena, Yale University, New Haven CT 06511, USA.|Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Yale University, New Haven CT 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, Connecticut 06515, USA.
authors.forename: B Ellen
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Scanley
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven CT 06520, USA.
authors.forename: Donna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wesolowski
authors.affiliation: Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena, Yale University, New Haven CT 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Mariyah
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pressley
authors.affiliation: Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena, Yale University, New Haven CT 06511, USA.|Department of Physics, Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, Connecticut 06515, USA.
authors.forename: Christine C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Broadbridge
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven CT 06520, USA.
authors.forename: Sidney
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Altman
authors.affiliation: Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena, Yale University, New Haven CT 06511, USA.|Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Yale University, New Haven CT 06511, USA.|Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale University, New Haven CT 06520, USA.
authors.forename: Udo D
authors.initials: UD
authors.lastname: Schwarz
authors.affiliation: Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena, Yale University, New Haven CT 06511, USA.|Department of Biomedical Engineering, Yale University, New Haven CT 06511, USA.|Department of Pathology, Yale University, New Haven CT 06520, USA.
authors.forename: Themis R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Kyriakides
authors.affiliation: Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena, Yale University, New Haven CT 06511, USA.|Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Yale University, New Haven CT 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schroers
mesh_terms: D000497:Alloys / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D000535:Aluminum / Q000737:chemistry*; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D020650:Combinatorial Chemistry Techniques; D003300:Copper / Q000737:chemistry; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005898:Glass / Q000737:chemistry; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D012834:Silver / Q000737:chemistry*; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D015040:Zirconium / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000497:Alloys; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D012834:Silver; D003300:Copper; D015040:Zirconium; D000535:Aluminum