Antibacterial properties of silver coated regenerated cellulose

This work is focused on the study and characterisation of surface properties of regenerated cellulose after plasma modification, which significantly affects its physical and chemical properties such as wettability, surface chemistry, and surface morphology. Depending on the selected parameters, such as the plasma exposure time of the substrate, its aging and the sputtering time with silver, the modified material was studied in different analytical methods. The ablation of the substrate was determined gravimetrically. Changes in surface roughness were detected by atomic force microscopy and chemical changes were studied with X-ray spectroscopy (XPS). Silver nanolayers were sputtered on the activated substrate and the antibacterial properties of these layers were studied. It has been determined the aging period for surface-treated under different exposure time, gravimetric analysis has shown almost linear mass loss with plasma treatment time, the surface roughness slightly decreases with the action of plasma. XPS analysis revealed that the oxygen content increased due to the higher reactivity of the surface of the modified cellulose. Antibacterial tests have shown that the silver layer sputtered on plasma activated regenerated cellulose significantly reduces the colonies of both Escherichia con and Staphylococcus epidermidis.