Facile fabrication of polyethylene/silver nanoparticle nanocomposites with silver nanoparticles traps and holds early antibacterial effect

Abstract

ABSTRACT Antibacterial polyethylene (PE)/silver nanoparticle (AgNP) nanocomposites containing AgNPs at concentrations of 5 × 10 −5 , 5 × 10 −4 , and 5 × 10 −3 wt % were fabricated and tested. Transmission electron microscopy revealed an even dispersion of surface AgNPs in the PE/AgNP nanocomposites. No AgNP agglomeration was observed. The tensile strength, elongation at break, and Young's modulus of these PE/AgNP nanocomposites were similar to those of neat PE. Differential scanning calorimetry demonstrated that the PE/AgNP nanocomposites and neat PE had similar melting and crystallization temperatures of 126 ± 0.5 and 109 ± 0.6°C, respectively. The heats of fusion of the PE/AgNP nanocomposites containing AgNPs at concentrations of 5 × 10 −5 and 5 × 10 −4 and of 5 × 10 −3 wt % were lower than those of neat PE by 5 and 7%, respectively. These PE/AgNP nanocomposites were immersed in shaking liquid cultures of the potential pathogenic bacteria Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis , and Salmonella typhimurium in the lag phase. The results show that the growth rates of all of the tested bacteria were restricted effectively after 1.5, 3, and 6 h of cultivation, respectively. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133 , 43331.