Antimicrobial modification of polypropylene with silver nanoparticles immobilized on zinc stearate

Abstract

The microwave synthesis of Ag nanoparticles on zinc stearate (ZnSt/Ag) was performed to obtain an antimicrobial additive for a polypropylene matrix. Thermoplastically prepared polymer composites contained (1, 3, 5 and 10) % of mass fractions of ZnSt/Ag. The effect of the presence of additives on the morphology and mechanical properties of composites was studied by scanning electron microscopy and stress-strain analysis. The antimicrobial activity of the composites was studied according to the ISO 22196 standard. The results showed that sufficient antimicrobial activity of the composites against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains was observed in the case of the composites with the highest filling studied.