Antibacterial nanocomposite coatings produced by means of gas aggregation source of silver nanoparticles

• Novel vacuum-based method for production of antibacterial films was developed.
• Proposed method enables production of nanocomposites with tunable Ag+ release.
• 4-log reduction of E. coli was reached for Ag/SiOx nanocomposites.

Silver nanoparticle-based antibacterial nanocomposite coatings were fabricated by means of gas aggregation source of Ag nanoparticles and plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition of matrix material. Combination of these techniques makes it possible to independently control the amount of Ag nanoparticles in the nanocomposites, as well as properties of matrix material, such as its chemical composition or wettability. This subsequently enables to tune kinetics of silver ion release and hence the antibacterial performance of produced nanocomposites. Based on detail measurements of silver ion release from Ag/plasma polymerized hexamethyldisiloxane and Ag/SiOx nanocomposites, it may be concluded that the release rate is strongly dependent both on matrix material and amount of Ag nanoparticles present in the nanocomposite. These measurements are furthermore accompanied with tests focused on the evaluation of antibacterial potency of produced nanocomposites.

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