Investigation of optical and morphological properties of metalized nanocomposites

- Substrates of PMMA were metalized with silver (Ag) or copper (Cu) nanoparticles.
- The size of nanoparticles in PMMA nanocomposite was approximately 30 nm.
- Cu and Ag formed deep elements and molded grains on the surface of nanocomposites.

Nanoparticles play an important role in scientific and technological fields, because they significantly affect the polymer matrix and lead to new properties. A combination of PMMA (poly-methylmethacrylate) with metal nanoparticles can offer very wide application field in medicine, because metals may act on a broad range of microbial targets, and many mutations may occur for microorganisms to resist their antimicrobial activity. Usually metal and other nanoparticles are coated onto surfaces of substrates. Unfortunately, the durability of such nanocomposites normally is very poor, because coatings are quite sensitive to different damages. Therefore the main target of this research was to apply nanoparticles on the surface of PMMA substrate and to affect them with microwave heating that nanoparticles intervene into the polymer matrix and form permanent damage resistance metal nanolayer. It was determined that the application of the metal nanolayer on the PMMA and the partial insertion of nanoparticles into the polymer were successful. Although Cu nanoparticles mostly formed deep elements than Ag nanoparticles in the nanocomposites, they both molded grains on the surface of nanocomposites. The incorporation of metal nanoparticles into the PMMA allowed expanding the application field of nanocomposites with more durable metal nanolayers.