Effect of chitosan coating on polypropylene fibers on the deposition of copper ions

Abstract

AbstractComposites based on chitosan coatings and metal ions are attracting great attention due to their antibacterial properties and biocompatibility. It is known that the presence of chitosan helps to stabilize the growth of metal films or individual nanoparticles during their deposition. In this work chitosan coating obtained from an aqueous carbonic acid solution is applied to fibers of a polypropylene nonwoven membrane. Aqueous carbonic acid solution is a clean and cheap solvent for chitosan that can effectively impregnate a porous polypropylene matrix. Before chitosan deposition, the fibers were pretreated in the presence of peroxycarbonic acid (i.e., in an aqueous hydrogen peroxide solution saturated with pressurized carbon dioxide). Copper ions were then deposited on the chitosan‐coated fibers. It was shown that the presence of a chitosan interlayer can significantly improve adhesion and reduce the aggregation of growing particles, which results in the decoration of the fibers with uniform thin copper‐containing films. The proposed method for creating composite materials can serve as a new approach to antibacterial polymer‐inorganic composites manufacturing.