Preparation and characterization of polyethylene/silver nanocomposite films with antibacterial activity

Abstract

Abstract In this work, a novel method was proposed for the fabrication of antibacterial nanocomposite polymeric films, for use in food packaging. In the first step, a stable colloidal solution of silver nanoparticles was prepared by chemical reduction of silver salt using fructose as an environmental friendly reducing agent. In the second step, corona air plasma was used as a pretreatment of low density polyethylene (LDPE) films to increase the adhesion of silver nanoparticles on the film surface. In the third step, silver nanoparticles were coated on the LDPE surface by immersion of the treated films in the colloidal silver solutions. Surface morphology of the silver/LDPE nanocomposite was characterized by FE‐SEM and AFM analysis. The amounts of coated silver and silver ion release from the nanocomposite surface were determined. In addition, the antibacterial activity of the fabricated films was evaluated by agar well diffusion and dynamic shake flask methods. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013