Photocurable acrylate epoxy/ZnO-Ag nanocomposite coating: fabrication, mechanical and antibacterial properties

In this study, a UV-curable acrylate epoxy nanocomposite coating has been prepared by incorporation of ZnO-Ag hybrid nanoparticles. For this purpose, firstly ZnO-Ag hybrid nanoparticles were fabricated by a seed-mediated growth method. Then, these ZnO-Ag hybrid nanoparticles (2 wt%) were added into the UV-curable acrylate resin matrices. The photocuring process of nanocomposite was evaluated by various factors, such as the conversion of acrylate double bonds, pendulum hardness and gel fraction. Under the 4.8 s UV-exposure time for full crosslinking, the obtained data indicated that incorporation of ZnO-Ag nanohybrids into the coating matrix changed the crosslinking process of coating significantly. A mechanical teat indicated that the presence of nanohybrids in photocurable coating matrix enhanced its abrasion resistance from 98.7 to 131.6 L per mil (33.3%). The antibacterial test against E. coli over 7 h indicated that E. coli bacteria were killed totally by nanocomposite coating, whereas it was 2.6 x 10(4) CFU mL(-1) for the neat coating without nanoparticles.

Automated summary

In this study, a UV-curable acrylate epoxy nanocomposite coating was prepared by incorporating ZnO-Ag hybrid nanoparticles, which significantly improved the abrasion resistance and antibacterial properties of the coating.