• A ‘dual active templating’ strategy is firstly reported, using cationic and anionic bactericidal agents as co-templates for the preparation of antibacterial silica nanocomposite with spiky nanotopography.

• The spiky nanocomposite exhibited enhanced antibacterial and biofilm inhibition performance, compared to pure antimicrobial cationic agent templated smooth silica nanocomposite.

Silica-based materials are usually used as delivery systems for antibacterial applications. In rare cases, bactericidal cationic surfactant templated silica composites have been reported as antimicrobial agents. However, their antibacterial efficacy is limited due to limited control in content and structure. Herein, we report a “dual active templating” strategy in the design of nanostructured silica composites with intrinsic antibacterial performance. This strategy uses cationic and anionic structural directing agents as dual templates, both with active antibacterial property. The cationic-anionic dual active templating strategy further contributes to antibacterial nanocomposites with a spiky surface. With controllable release of dual active antibacterial agents, the spiky nanocomposite displays enhanced anti-microbial and anti-biofilm properties toward Staphylococcus epidermidis. These findings pave a new avenue toward the designed synthesis of novel antibacterial nanocomposites with improved performance for diverse antibacterial applications.

• 首次报道了一种“双活性模板”策略，使用阳离子和阴离子杀菌剂作为共模板制备具有尖状纳米形貌的抗菌二氧化硅纳米复合材料。

• 与纯抗菌阳离子剂模板化光滑二氧化硅纳米复合材料相比，尖刺纳米复合材料表现出增强的抗菌和生物膜抑制性能。

基于二氧化硅的材料通常用作抗菌应用的递送系统。在极少数情况下，杀菌阳离子表面活性剂模板化二氧化硅复合材料已被报道为抗菌剂。然而，由于对含量和结构的控制有限，它们的抗菌功效有限。在此，我们报告了在设计具有固有抗菌性能的纳米结构二氧化硅复合材料时采用的“双活性模板”策略。该策略使用阳离子和阴离子结构导向剂作为双模板，均具有活性抗菌性能。阳离子-阴离子双活性模板策略进一步有助于制备具有尖状表面的抗菌纳米复合材料。具有双重活性抗菌剂的可控释放，表皮葡萄球菌。这些发现为设计合成新型抗菌纳米复合材料铺平了道路，这些纳米复合材料具有改进的性能，适用于多种抗菌应用。