Antibacterial activated carbon fiber derived from phenolic resin containing silver nitrate

Abstract

A novolactype phenolic resin including 1 wt% of AgNO 3 was spun, hardened, carbonized at 900°C under nitrogen and finally activated at 900°C for 10 and 60 min under steam. The resulting fibers showed specific N 2-BET surface areas of 280 and 1,940 m 2/g, respectively. The latter contained 2.2 wt% of the silver particles of which the largest size was several 100 nm and showed antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. After soaking in the flowing tap water for 20 days, this fiber lost one third of silver but kept the antibacterial activity.