Preferential Facet of Nanocrystalline Silver Embedded in Polyethylene Oxide Nanocomposite and Its Antibiotic Behaviors

Abstract

In this article, a magnetron sputtering (MS) method is reported to prepare a nanocomposite of embedded silver nanoparticles in simultaneously polymerized, nonfouling polyethylene oxide (PEO) film. X-ray diffraction (XRD) shows that the silver nanoparticles had tunable growth in the preferential (111) facet, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) reveals that diameters of silver could also be controllable in the range of 5−10 nm by varying the processing parameters, such as the working pressure and the target-to-substrate distance. The antibacterial activities tests demonstrate that nanocrystalline silver in the Ag/PEO composite fabricated by this method has a markedly efficient effect.