EXTENDED ABSTRACT: The growing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics poses a significant global public health challenge, particularly in healthcare environments where long-term sterilization of medical products such as implants, devices, and consumables is essential. This issue has prompted extensive research into reducing antibiotic use and developing materials with inherent antibacterial properties. Among these strategies, metal and metal oxide nanostructures, particularly zinc oxide (ZnO), have gained considerable attention due to their low toxicity, tunable morphology, and unique physicochemical properties. ZnO nanowires (ZnO NWs) exhibit potent antibacterial activity, primarily through a synergistic mechanism combining physical disruption, chemical interference, and the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). These mechanisms include mechanical interactions that physically damage bacterial cell membranes, the release of Zn²⁺ ions that interfere with bacterial metabolism, and the ROS-induced oxidative stress that further compromises bacterial integrity. The antibacterial efficacy of ZnO NWs is strongly influenced by their particle morphology and size distribution. In this study, a high-throughput liquid-phase reaction platform was developed to synthesize ZnO nanostructures with controlled morphologies. By systematically varying parameters such as zinc acetate concentration, heat treatment temperature, and hydrothermal temperature, over 300 samples were produced. This high-throughput approach minimized experimental errors and significantly improved synthesis efficiency. Comprehensive antibacterial tests were conducted, and a synthesis parameter-particle morphology-antibacterial performance database was established. ZnO nanorods demonstrated the most
effective antibacterial performance due to their larger surface area, sharp morphology, and enhanced Zn²⁺ ion release, outperforming flower-like and granular structures. This study highlights the critical role of morphology control in optimizing ZnO's antibacterial efficacy and provides valuable theoretical and data-driven insights for the development and screening of advanced antibacterial coatings, emphasizing the importance of synergistic physical-chemical mechanisms in combating bacterial resistance.
Keywords： ZnO nanowires, high throughput hydrothermal synthesis, antibacterial activity, materials genome.