Abstract
The coating of polymeric substrate polyetheretherketone (PEEK) with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) was carried out by a wet chemical route at room temperature. The coating process was developed from the Tollens reagent and D-glucose as reducing agent. The resulting composite exhibited antimicrobial activity. The PEEK films were coated with a single layer and two layers of silver nanoparticles in various concentrations. The crystallographic properties of the polymer and the silver nanoparticles were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR) show the interaction between the silver nanoparticles with the polymeric substrate. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images confirmed the obtaining of metallic nanoparticles with average sizes of 25 nm. It was possible to estimate the amount of silver deposited on PEEK with the help of thermogravimetric analysis. The morphology and shape of the AgNPs uniformly deposited on the PEEK films was ascertained by the techniques of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), evidencing the increase in the amount of silver by increasing the concentration of the metal precursor. Finally, the antibacterial activity of the films coated with Ag in Escherichia coli, Serratia marcescens and Bacillus licheniformis was evaluated, evidencing that the concentration of silver is crucial in the cellular replication of the bacteria.
Highlights
Bacterial growth is the main problem of air purification systems such as heaters, air-conditioning and ventilators that are used indoors [1,2]
The present study aims to obtain polyetheretherketone films coated with various concentrations of silver by a simple chemical reduction method, which contributes to the development of deposition methodologies of silver nanoparticles in polymeric substrates, without the need to use expensive equipment and avoiding the use of polluting reagents
The average size of the crystalline domains of AgNPs synthesized by a simple chemical reduction method was less than 30 nm using the Debye–Scherrer formula, corroborating the results by statistical analysis with transmission electron microscopy images
Summary
Bacterial growth is the main problem of air purification systems such as heaters, air-conditioning and ventilators that are used indoors [1,2]. This semicrystalline thermoplastic polymer formed by an aromatic chain, combines ketone and ether functional groups between the aryl rings with a mechanical strength stable at high temperatures and resistance to most inorganic and organic substances in comparison with other polymers derived from the polyaryletherketone family (PAEK) [8,9,10] These characteristics make PEEK an ideal material for various applications such as components in filters for air decontamination and as complements in decontaminating systems, using effective coatings based on silver nanoparticles with high activity in low concentrations [11,12,13,14]. This results in high antibacterial effectiveness due to the development of small silver (Ag) particle sizes [19,20]
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