Liquid Exfoliation of Atomically Thin Antimony Selenide as an Efficient Two-Dimensional Antibacterial Nanoagent

Abstract

The ever-growing global crisis of multidrug-resistant bacteria has triggered a tumult of activity in the design and development of antibacterial formulations. Here, atomically thin antimony selenide nanosheets (Sb₂Se₃ NSs), a minimal-toxic and low-cost semiconductor material, were explored as a high-performance two-dimensional (2D) antibacterial nanoagent via a liquid exfoliation strategy integrating cryo-pretreatment and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP)-assisted exfoliation. When cultured with bacteria, the obtained PVP-capped Sb₂Se₃ NSs exhibited intrinsic long-term antibacterial capability, probably due to the reactive oxygen species generation and sharp edge-induced membrane cutting during physical contact between bacteria and nanosheets. Upon near-infrared laser irradiation, Sb₂Se₃ NSs achieved short-time hyperthermia sterilization because of strong optical absorption and high photothermal conversion efficiency. By virtue of the synergistic effects of these two broad-spectrum antibacterial mechanisms, Sb₂Se₃ NSs exhibited high-efficiency inhibition of conventional Gram-negative <i>Escherichia coli</i>, Gram-positive methicillin-resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>, and wild bacteria from a natural water pool. Particularly, these three categories of bacteria were completely eradicated after being treated with Sb₂Se₃ NSs (300 μM) plus laser irradiation for only 5 min. In vivo wound healing experiment further demonstrated the high-performance antibacterial effect. In addition, Sb₂Se₃ NSs depicted excellent biocompatibility due to the biocompatible element constitute and bioinert PVP modification. This work enlightened that atomically thin Sb₂Se₃ NSs hold great promise as a broad-spectrum 2D antibacterial nanoagent for various pathogenic bacterial infections.