Facile fabrication of polyethylene/silver nanoparticle nanocomposites with silver nanoparticles traps and holds early antibacterial effect

Abstract

Antibacterial polyethylene (PE)/silver nanoparticle (AgNP) nanocomposites containing AgNPs at concentrations of 5 × 10−5, 5 × 10−4, and 5 × 10−3 wt % were fabricated and tested. Transmission electron microscopy revealed an even dispersion of surface AgNPs in the PE/AgNP nanocomposites. No AgNP agglomeration was observed. The tensile strength, elongation at break, and Young's modulus of these PE/AgNP nanocomposites were similar to those of neat PE. Differential scanning calorimetry demonstrated that the PE/AgNP nanocomposites and neat PE had similar melting and crystallization temperatures of 126 ± 0.5 and 109 ± 0.6°C, respectively. The heats of fusion of the PE/AgNP nanocomposites containing AgNPs at concentrations of 5 × 10−5 and 5 × 10−4 and of 5 × 10−3 wt % were lower than those of neat PE by 5 and 7%, respectively. These PE/AgNP nanocomposites were immersed in shaking liquid cultures of the potential pathogenic bacteria Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, and Salmonella typhimurium in the lag phase. The results show that the growth rates of all of the tested bacteria were restricted effectively after 1.5, 3, and 6 h of cultivation, respectively. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 43331.

A comprehensive feasibility study on the properties of LDPE‐Ag nanocomposites for food packaging applications

“…In addition, Yeo et al found that the AgNPs could act as impurities in the polymer matrix and interfere with the crystallization process of LDPE, causing the lower crystallinity. This phenomenon is very consistent with the previous studies in the literature where the AgNP content was varied in other types of polyethylene . The addition of AgNPs has no effect on the melting point ( T m ) of LDPE, ranging from 105.95 to 106.61°C.…”

Antibacterial Nanocomposites Based on Fe3O4–Ag Hybrid Nanoparticles and Natural Rubber-Polyethylene Blends

“…This very low content of nanoparticles might not change the tensile property of the material. In the previous work [7], for PE-AgNP nanocomposites, we did not observe the change in tensile and thermal properties, as compared to the plain PE. In this study, similar results were obtained for the tensile strength of PE-AgNP and NR-AgNP with the low concentration of AgNPs.…”

“…As can be seen in this figure, the tensile strength of neat NR was 6.8±0.1 MPa. Addition of the PE component (with the higher tensile strength value of 24.3 ± 0.6 MPa [7]) in the NR matrix caused the higher tensile strength value of 9.2 ± 1.4 MPa (for the NR/PE blend treated with compatibilizer, NR/PE+Cpt). Without compatibilizer, the NR/PE blend had a lower tensile strength (6.3 ± 0.4 MPa) than that of neat NR.…”

“…In this direction, we reported recently the fabrication of antibacterial PE-AgNP nanocomposite for water and food preservation. This PE-AgNP nanocomposite held the antibacterial activity against E. coli, Bacillus subtilis, and Salmonella typhimurium bacteria [7]. However, incorporation of AgNPs into the NR matrix did not give the antibacterial activity for the vulcanized NR against E. coli [8].…”

Preparation and Characterization of Antimicrobial Films Based on LDPE/Ag Nanoparticles with Potential Uses in Food and Health Industries

“…Except for the use of melt mixing [ 23 , 24 ] to prepare polyethylene based nanocomposites previous work found in the literature imply the use of more elaborate or longer protocols. Some examples of the methods used to prepare polyethylene/Ag nanocomposites are: (i) thermal reduction during melting [ 25 , 26 ]; (ii) supercritical fluid route [ 27 ]; (iii) in-situ polymerization [ 28 , 29 ]; (iv) casting [ 30 , 31 ]; (v) surface coating of LDPE using spraying or corona treatment [ 32 , 33 ] and (vi) layer-by-layer (LBL) deposition [ 34 ]. Therefore, the use of HEBM is proposed here as an alternative method, to prepare homogeneous LDPE/Ag nanocomposites with a uniform dispersion of the Ag NPs in the polymer bulk.…”