Methods for detecting antimicrobial surface coatings using fluorescent indicators

A method for detecting a presence or an absence of an antimicrobial surface coating, comprising the steps of:

• providing a substrate;
• pre-treating the substrate with an antimicrobial surface coating solution comprising an antimicrobial component configured to covalently bond to the substrate, wherein the antimicrobial surface coating solution does not comprise a detectable fluorophoric dye compound;
• separately applying a detectable fluorophoric dye compound to a surface of the substrate at a time after the step of pre-treating the substrate;
• irradiating the surface of the substrate with ultraviolet radiation in a 100-415 nm wavelength range to excite the detectable fluorophoric dye compound;
• observing fluorescence corresponding to the excited detectable fluorophoric dye compound;
• and
• determining, based on the observed fluorescence, the presence or the absence of the antimicrobial surface coating;
• wherein the determining step comprises obtaining fluorescence intensity data and comparing the obtained fluorescence intensity data to at least one of predetermined threshold intensity data and intensity data of a control area of the substrate known to be coated with an antimicrobial surface coating or known to lack an antimicrobial surface coating.