Abstract
In this study, an industrially scalable method is reported for the fabrication of polylactic acid (PLA)/silver nanoparticle (AgNP) nanocomposite filaments by an in-situ reduction reactive melt mixing method. The PLA/AgNP nanocomposite filaments have been produced initially reducing silver ions (Ag+) arising from silver nitrate (AgNO3) precursor mixed in the polymer melt to elemental silver (Ag0) nanoparticles, utilizing polyethylene glycol (PEG) or polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), respectively, as macromolecular blend compound reducing agents. PEG and PVP were added at various concentrations, to the PLA matrix. The PLA/AgNP filaments have been used to manufacture 3D printed antimicrobial (AM) parts by Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF). The 3D printed PLA/AgNP parts exhibited significant AM properties examined by the reduction in Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria viability (%) experiments at 30, 60, and 120 min duration of contact (p < 0.05; p-value (p): probability). It could be envisaged that the 3D printed parts manufactured and tested herein mimic nature’s mechanism against bacteria and in terms of antimicrobial properties, contact angle for their anti-adhesive behavior and mechanical properties could create new avenues for the next generation of low-cost and on-demand additive manufacturing produced personal protective equipment (PPE) as well as healthcare and nosocomial antimicrobial equipment.
Highlights
Poly-Lactic Acid (PLA) which belongs to the family of polyglycolic acid aliphatic polyesters has received an extensive interest the last decades especially as a high-performance polymer for bio-related applications
It should be that only the polylactic acid (PLA)/Ag/polyethylene glycol (PEG) and PLA/Ag/polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) spectra are depicted, since they have been mentioned that only the PLA/Ag/PEG and PLA/Ag/PVP spectra are depicted, since found to exhibit identical spectral features compared to that of PLA/Ag/PEG and PLA/Ag/PVP
It is known from literature that silver presents a lattice vibrational mode and PLA/Ag/PVP materials, respectively
Summary
Poly-Lactic Acid (PLA) which belongs to the family of polyglycolic acid aliphatic polyesters has received an extensive interest the last decades especially as a high-performance polymer for bio-related applications. PLA has been used in the biomedical sector for various functional objects i.e., implants [1], surgical equipment [2], nanofibrous templates for drug delivery [3], foams for tissue engineering [4], etc. For biomedical applications as for instance protective personal equipment (PPE), surgical equipment, etc., PLA offers the unique property that it can be sterilized due to its relatively high melting point (typical Tm of PLA ~150–160 ◦ C), which is a prerequisite so that PLA based 3D objects can be reusable till the end of their lifetime. Surgeons have used patient-specific computed tomography derived 3D prints for the better preoperative planning and the proper design of the surgical approach in complex operations [15,16,17]
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