Tailor-Made Silver Release Properties of Silver-Containing Functional Plasma Polymer Coatings Adjusted Through a Macroscopic Kinetics Approach

Combining a functional plasma polymer matrix with antibacterially active silver (Ag) within a nanocomposite structure allows secure production and applications in various fields, especially in the medical sector. Therefore, nitrogen or oxygen containing hydrocarbon plasma polymers and Ag nanoparticles were simultaneously deposited. Functional groups such as amino or carboxylic groups as well as an adjusted amount of Ag can be incorporated into the growing films by controlling the plasma deposition properties. For this purpose, macroscopic kinetics were used to characterise the deposition behaviour also as a base for possible industrial up-scaling. XPS and ICP-OES were used to analyse the chemical composition of the polymer-Ag nanocomposites and the Ag content which could be incorporated depending on the plasma process conditions. Finally, the Ag release was determined in bi-distilled water for classification and comparison with the antibacterial properties. The antibacterial effect of the polymer-Ag nanocomposites was proofed with the gram- strain PAO1 and the gram+ strain (ST12 Group) showing a clear efficacy dependence on the amount of released Ag and the possibility for tailor-made antibacterial active plasma films.