Antibacterial nano silver coating on the surface of polyethylene films using corona discharge

This work focuses on surface modification of polyethylene films by corona air plasma and coating of silver nanoparticles on the surface of treated film. For this purpose, the surface of polyethylene film was treated by the corona discharge and then the modified polymeric film was immersed in a stable and uniform colloidal solution of silver nanoparticles that was synthesized by chemical reduction of silver salt using fructose. The effects of corona treatment conditions on the surface modification and performance of the silver/polyethylene nanocomposite films were investigated. The surface morphology of the nanocomposite films was analyzed by AFM and FE-SEM techniques. Also, the efficiency of the corona treatment for surface modification was evaluated by FTIR-ATR spectrometry and contact angle test. It was observed that the corona air plasma was a useful technique for surface modification of polyethylene films and the polar functional groups like C-O and C=O were formed on the surface of polyethylene after the surface modification. The results showed that an increase in the power and time of corona treatment led to an increase in nanocomposite silver content and silver ion release in aqueous media. Finally, the antimicrobial tests indicated that the fabricated nanocomposite films had promising antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 29737) as a model gram positive bacterium and Escherichia coli (ATCC 11303) as a model gram negative bacterium. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.