With the improvement of people's living standard and the progress of science and technology, people's research on microorganisms is becoming more and more perfect. There are many kinds of microorganisms, mainly including bacteria, viruses, fungi and a few algae. While using microorganisms to produce value for our life, we should also be extremely vigilant about the harmfulness of some pathogens. For example, the "Covid-19" epidemic has caused huge losses to China's economy and people's life, making people realize the importance of antimicrobial materials.

Antibacterial material refers to a new type of functional material that has the function of killing or inhibiting microorganisms. It is like adding a "shield" in front of people, which can prevent the invasion of microorganisms. Therefore, this article will talk about the means of antimicrobial and antimicrobial agents and the types and characteristics.

First, antibacterial means

Antibacterial means mainly include physical and chemical methods of two categories. In the field of materials, the preparation of antimicrobial materials is mainly by adding a certain amount of antimicrobial agents, which is simple, widely applicable, high efficiency and long period of validity.

Second, the type and characteristics of antibacterial agents

The core of antibacterial materials is antibacterial agent, which is a kind of substances or products with antibacterial and bactericidal properties. There are thousands of products on the market, of course, the quality is uneven. The key is to choose the type of antibacterial agent. According to the classification of chemical composition of antibacterial agents, according to this method can be divided into natural product antibacterial agents, inorganic antibacterial agents, organic low-fraction subclass antibacterial agents, organic macromolecule antibacterial agents and compound antibacterial agents.

2.1 Antibacterial agents of natural products

Most natural antimicrobial agents are organic antimicrobial agents derived from animal and plant extracts. The advantages of natural antimicrobial agents are: natural environmental protection, a wide range of sources of non-toxic harmless, good biocompatibility.

2.2 Inorganic antibacterial agents

Inorganic antimicrobial agent is mainly made of silver, copper, zinc, titanium, mercury, lead and other metals and their bactericidal or bacteriostasis ability. Special attention should be paid to the strong toxicity of mercury, lead and other elements of the antimicrobial agent, which can not be used in ordinary occasions. The most widely used are metal ions, photocatalysis and metal oxides.

2.3 Low organic subclass of antimicrobial agents

Commonly used organic low molecular antibacterial agents mainly include quaternary ammonium salts, phenols, ureas, guanidines, heterocyclic compounds, organometallic compounds, etc., which have very good antibacterial effect on Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria (such as Escherichia coli), fungi and other bacteria, and are commonly used as the main body of mildewproof, antibacterial and deodorant finishing agents.

2.4 Organic high polymer antibacterial agent

According to the different antibacterial groups, at present, the research of organic polymer antibacterial agent is more quaternary ammonium salt, chitosan and its derivatives, guanidine salt, etc., the advantages of variety, strong bactericidal ability, stable performance, among which quaternary ammonium salt is the most commonly used antibacterial agent.

2.5 Compound antibacterial agents

At present, the compound antibacterial agents are inorganic/inorganic, organic/inorganic, organic/organic antibacterial agents, etc. Through the form of compound, antibacterial agent can promote advantages and avoid disadvantages, have synergistic effect, so as to improve the antibacterial performance of the material, and appropriately prolong the antibacterial time of the material.