Potent Antibacterial Activity of Copper Embedded into Silicone and Polyurethane

A simple, easily up-scalable swell–encapsulation–shrink technique was used to incorporate small 2.5 nm copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) into two widely used medical grade polymers, polyurethane, and silicone, with no significant impact on polymer coloration. Both medical grade polymers with incorporated...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 7; no. 41; pp. 22807 - 22813
Main Authors Sehmi, Sandeep K, Noimark, Sacha, Weiner, Jonathan, Allan, Elaine, MacRobert, Alexander J, Parkin, Ivan. P
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States American Chemical Society 21.10.2015
Subjects
Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology
Copper - pharmacology
Escherichia coli - drug effects
Metal Nanoparticles - ultrastructure
Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus - drug effects
Microbial Sensitivity Tests
Microbial Viability - drug effects
Particle Size
Photoelectron Spectroscopy
Polyurethanes - pharmacology
Silicones - pharmacology
Water
antimicrobial
nanoparticle
copper
hospital-acquired infections
polymers
bacteria
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Summary:A simple, easily up-scalable swell–encapsulation–shrink technique was used to incorporate small 2.5 nm copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) into two widely used medical grade polymers, polyurethane, and silicone, with no significant impact on polymer coloration. Both medical grade polymers with incorporated CuNPs demonstrated potent antimicrobial activity against the clinically relevant bacteria, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. CuNP-incorporated silicone samples displayed potent antibacterial activity against both bacteria within 6 h. CuNP-incorporated polyurethane exhibited more efficacious antimicrobial activity, resulting in a 99.9% reduction in the numbers of both bacteria within just 2 h. With the high prevalence of hospital-acquired infections, the use of antimicrobial materials such as these CuNP-incorporated polymers could contribute to reducing microbial contamination associated with frequently touched surfaces in and around hospital wards (e.g., bed rails, overbed tables, push plates, etc.).
ISSN:1944-8244
1944-8252
DOI:10.1021/acsami.5b08665