Engineering of Composite Organosilicon Thin Films with Embedded Silver Nanoparticles via Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Process for Antibacterial Activity

Abstract

An innovative antibacterial thin film with imbedded silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) is investigated through atmospheric pressure plasma deposition. The process is based on a single-step fabrication of nanocomposite films where AgNPs are fed directly into the discharge zone. The morphology and stoichiometry of the thin films, characterized with SEM/EDX, GD-OES, and XPS, can be tailored by the plasma parameters and the quantity of introduced AgNPs. An exceptional 32 at% of AgNPs is reached in the work. The antibacterial assays using Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus strains show effective antibacterial activity of the films and indicate that the fabrication of nanocomposite films using atmospheric pressure plasma represents a feasible way to overcome the issue of device related infection.