Surface characterisation of polyelectrolyte/silver nanocomposite films

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were deposited onto surface-hydrolysed PET film by an electrostatic self-assembly technique, so as to fabricate multilayer nanocomposite films. The self-assembly process was monitored by ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy. The surface morphology and chemical composition of the multilayer nanocomposite films were characterised by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results showed that the AgNPs were uniformly dispersed on the PET film, in the metallic silver state. The thermal stability of the multilayer nanocomposite films was investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and it was found that the presence of AgNPs on the surface of PET enhanced the thermal stability of the PET film. The antibacterial performance of the multilayer nanocomposite films was investigated by staphylococcus aureus to monitor the number of the bacterial cells. The results suggested that the PET films after assembled 10-bilayer PDDA/AgNPs multilayer films exhibited good antibacterial performance.