A study of the onset of biofouling using quartz crystal nanobalance

One of the major characteristics of living microorganisms is their behavior in deposition upon material surfaces. The initial biofouling behavior was investigated by measuring the mass of bacteria deposited on various metallic surfaces immersed in stationary distilled water. Three different bacteria were used: Pseudomonas fluorescens, Escherichia coli, and Klebsiella aerogenes, all of which commonly exist in industrial water systems. The present results show that P. fluorescens was most adherent to a Ti surface, while E. coli and K. aerogenes were affinitive to Au and Al, respectively. Generally, Au and Ti metals showed high bacterial deposition behavior. The bacteria deposited on the Ti surface could be effectively removed by irradiation of ultra-violet light.