Antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity of cotton fabric coated with conducting polymers, polyaniline or polypyrrole, and with deposited silver nanoparticles

Cotton fabric was coated with conducting polymers, polyaniline or polypyrrole, in situ during the oxidation of respective monomers. Raman and FTIR spectra proved the complete coating of substrates. Polypyrrole content was 19.3 wt.% and that of polyaniline 6.0 wt.%. Silver nanoparticles were deposited from silver nitrate solutions of various concentrations by exploiting the reduction ability of conducting polymers. The content of silver was up to 11 wt.% on polypyrrole and 4 wt.% on polyaniline. The sheet resistivity of fabrics was determined. The conductivity was reduced after deposition of silver. The chemical cleaning reduced the conductivity by less than one order of magnitude for polypyrrole coating, while for polyaniline the decrease was more pronounced. The good antibacterial activity against S. aureus and E. coli and low cytotoxicity of polypyrrole-coated cotton, both with and without deposited silver nanoparticles, were recorded, and they promise a broad applicability of this material. Polyaniline-coated samples showed lower antibacterial activity and higher cytotoxicity compared to polypyrrole-based materials. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.