Abstract

The increasing threat of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections highlights the critical need for advanced antibiofilms materials, particularly for surfaces highly exposed and prone to contamination in healthcare environments. Here, we report a novel multifunctional silsesquioxane based material with a neopentyl bridge, incorporating platinum octaethylporphyrin as a photosensitizer, coated with lactic acid, as an additional antimicrobial agent. The neopentyl-functionalized silsesquioxane matrix provides structural stability while enabling efficient dispersion of the octaethylporphyrin, ensuring photoactivated surface-mediated antimicrobial effect. This hybrid system integrates light-triggered reactive oxygen species generation by octaethylporphyrin, with the intrinsic antimicrobial properties of lactic acid, providing a versatile and robust platform for surface coatings exhibiting antibiofilm performance. Comprehensive physicochemical and spectroscopic characterization confirmed the structural integrity and photochemical activity of the material, employed as self-standing film or as coating, able to be used in different surfaces. Under visible light irradiation, the materials demonstrated biofilm inhibition effectiveness against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. These findings highlight the potential of this multifunctional material as light-triggered antibiofilm coating for high-touch surfaces in healthcare environments, where surface-associated microbial control is critical.