Polymer Testing (Sep 2021)

Improving the antistatic and antibacterial properties of polypropylene via tetrapod-shaped ZnO@Ag particles

  • Youmei Du,
  • Dequan Ma,
  • Jie Mao,
  • Jianqi Yao,
  • Qin Ma,
  • Jing Lu,
  • Faliang Luo,
  • Chunhui Luo,
  • Lei Li

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 101
p. 107301

Abstract

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In the current work, the polypropylene composites filled with a M-T-ZnOw@Ag filler with antibacterial and antistatic properties was firstly synthesized. The composites and the fabricated nanocomposites were characterized using SEM, TEM, XRD, FTIR and XPS techniques. With the addition of M-T-ZnOw@Ag, the antibacterial and antistatic properties of composite materials are greatly improved by the synergistic effect of AgNPs and T-ZnOw. When the filler content is 10 wt%, the antibacterial activity of the composite material against Gram negative (Escherichia coli) and Gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus) bacterial were 100%. And the surface resistivity was reduced to 5.5 × 1010 Ω, fell by nearly 7 orders of magnitude compare with the neat PP. Furthermore, the composites showed better mechanical properties. The maximum impact strength of the composites is 56.3% higher than the neat PP. We believe the composite material with antibacterial and antistatic properties could greatly expand the application range of polypropylene materials.

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