Synergistic Antibacterial and Anticorrosive Effect of Polysulfone Nanofibers Embedded with Biogenic Silver Nanoparticles for Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion of Nickel

摘要

Due to water-repellency property and nanoparticle functionalization, nanofibers hold great potential of anti-bacterial and anti-corrosive properties. This study examines electrospinning technology to coatings polysulfone and embedded biogenic silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) polysulfone nanofibers (PSU-Nf) onto nickel for anti-bacterial and anti-corrosive protection. The anti-corrosion performances of the hydrophobic nanofibers coated nickel surfaces were analyzed by weight loss, Tafel polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The antibacterial activity of nanofibers was analyzed using Pseudomonas aeruginosa which is a model biofilm bacterium. Results showed that the presence of AgNPs on the nanofibers reduces the cell counts. In addition, obtained electrochemical results confirmed the successful corrosion protection of PSU-Nfs which corrosion current values of PSU-Nf coated Ni samples for 3 d is nearly 10 times smaller (12.1 μA cm~(-2)) than that of bare Nickel (170 μA cm~(-2)) samples. The EIS data agree with the polarization data that charge transfer resistance (R_(ct)) showed a significant increase after Nf coatings. As a result, metal coated with PSU nanofibers and AgNPs embedded PSU-Nfs has corrosion protection in both artificial seawater with and without biofilm bacteria. Further, due to environmentally friendly approach, electrospinning has the potential of using surface protection instead of toxic pretreatments and coatings.