Abstract
Polyurethanes (PUs) have been widely used in the coating industry due to their high flexibility and good UV resistance. Extensive formulations of PU coatings have been reported previously in the literature. Scientists nowadays improvise products whereby nanomaterial additives such as silver nanoparticles are incorporated to obtain antibacterial and antifungal properties. In this study, spherical shaped silver nanoparticles with an average size of 46 nm were added into polyol (polypropylene glycol) which was cross-linked with toluene isocyanate to obtain PU nanocomposite coating films. Characterizations of the coating film were carried out using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to observe the urethane linkage that was formed during the cross-linking and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope with Energy Dispersive X-Ray (FESEM-EDX) Spectroscopy analysis to determine size, shape and distribution of the nanoparticles. The antifungal activity of the nanocomposite coating was studied against Cladosporium cladosporiodes, Penicillium oxalicum and Aspergillus aculaetus. The results showed that the AgNPs-incorporated PU coating film has the ability to inhibit the tropical fungi growth.
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