Antibacterial Polyethylene Film via Grafting of Acrylic Acid Initiated by Oxygen Plasma and In-Situ Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles

摘要

Abstract Functionalization of polyethylene film with nanoparticles is an interesting approach for preparation of antibacterial packaging. Due to the lack of functional groups on the polyethylene chain for attachment of the nanoparticles, surface modification of the polyethylene film is necessary. In this study, plasma treatment was employed to initiate the acrylic acid grafting on polyethylene film. Creation of carboxyl functional groups made the loading of silver ions on the polyethylene film possible. Silver ions loaded on the grafted films were reduced to silver nanoparticles, and the grafting of poly(acrylic acid) and existence of silver nanoparticles were confirmed by FTIR and SEM, respectively. The amount of silver atoms on each sample was determined by EDX. The antibacterial activity of all samples was evaluated, and the sample prepared by the use of 150 ppm of silver ions showed the highest antibacterial activity. The average size of the silver nanoparticles synthesized on this sample was 35 nm.