Improving the antistatic and antibacterial properties of polypropylene via tetrapod-shaped ZnO@Ag particles

Abstract

In the current work, the polypropylene composites filled with a M-T-ZnOw@Ag filler with antibacterial and antistatic properties was firstly synthesized. The composites and the fabricated nanocomposites were characterized using SEM, TEM, XRD, FTIR and XPS techniques. With the addition of M-T-ZnOw@Ag, the antibacterial and antistatic properties of composite materials are greatly improved by the synergistic effect of AgNPs and T-ZnOw. When the filler content is 10 wt%, the antibacterial activity of the composite material against Gram negative (Escherichia coli) and Gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus) bacterial were 100%. And the surface resistivity was reduced to 5.5 × 1010 Ω, fell by nearly 7 orders of magnitude compare with the neat PP. Furthermore, the composites showed better mechanical properties. The maximum impact strength of the composites is 56.3% higher than the neat PP. We believe the composite material with antibacterial and antistatic properties could greatly expand the application range of polypropylene materials.