Fig. 5

Physiological changes of bacteria. a SEM images of S. aureus and E. coli on TNT control and the DC+ charged TNT-C-15 (Scale bar = 2 μm). b Live/dead and ROS staining images of S. aureus and E. coli treated with TNT control, DC+ charged TNT-C-15, and 0.1 mM H₂O₂ (Scale bar = 20 μm). c Quantitative analysis of the live/dead staining results by flow cytometry. d Quantitative analysis of the ROS fluorescence intensity of treated bacteria by flow cytometry. e, f Anti-biofilm performances of various samples: e quantitative measurements after crystal violet staining and f 3D morphology of the fluorescently stained biofilms (Scale bar = 50 μm) (*denotes P < 0.05 and **denotes P < 0.01 compared with TNT group, Student t test). All error bars = s.d. (n = 3)