In Situ Reduction of Silver Nanoparticles on the Plasma-Induced Chitosan Grafted Polylactic Acid Nonwoven Fabrics for Improvement of Antibacterial Activity

Abstract

An eco-friendly approach for improvement of antibacterial properties of polylactic acid (PLA) nonwoven fabrics was obtained by in situ reduction of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) on dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma-induced chitosan grafted (DBD-CS-Ag NPs) PLA nonwoven fabrics. The surface morphology, surface element composition and the chemical state of silver of the PLA surfaces after the treatment were evaluated through scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. The antibacterial activity of DBD-CS-Ag NPs treated PLA against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) was tested. The uniform dispersion of silver nanoparticles on the DBD-CS-Ag NPs treated PLA surface were confirmed by SEM images. The results of XPS and XRD showed that the concentration of silver element on the surface of PLA nonwoven fabrics was significantly improved after DBD-CS-Ag NPs treatment. The DBD-CS-Ag NPs treated PLA nonwoven fabrics also exhibited excellent antibacterial properties.