This document discusses the development of antibacterial nano-coatings for textiles based on plasma polymerized polypyrrole. Plasma polymerization allows the deposition of polypyrrole coatings on cotton fabrics in an environmentally friendly way. Optimization of the deposition process through iodine doping was found to induce oxidation of the polypyrrole and impart positive charges, rendering it conductive and antibacterial. Testing showed the coated fabrics had good antibacterial activity against E. coli and K. pneumoniae bacteria. It was concluded that iodine doping during plasma polymerization is an effective method to induce oxidation and antibacterial properties in the deposited polypyrrole coatings.

1. Antibacterial textiles based on poly-pyrrole
nano-coatings
aintech@ain.es

2. ANTIBACTERIAL TEXTILES
BASED ON POLY-PYRROLE
NANO-COATINGS
María Monteserín, Francisco Martín, Gonzalo G.
Fuentes, Rafael J. Rodriguez
mmonteserin@ain.es
2
MATERIALS

3. • indice
OUTLINE
-
Introduction
Previous remarks
Objectives
Experimental results
Conclusions
3

4. Introduction
Bacteria on fabrics
Stains
Degradation
Bad Odours
The proliferation of certain kind of bacteria on
textiles can cause several
undesired effects
Infections
4

5. Introduction
Bacteria on Fabrics
For some applications of textiles, it is specially important to avoid these
adverse effects:
Biomedical
Textiles
Technical
Sports Clothes
5

6. Introduction
Technical approaches to develop antibacterial textiles
- New raw materials (expensive, time-consuming)
- Modification of existing textile materials
BULK MODIFICATION
SURFACE MODIFICATION
Fabric
Incorporated
into the fiber
Leaching effect
Coating of
the fiber
Binded to
the fiber
Chemical binding
6

7. Introduction
Antibacterial agents used on Fabrics
Silver
Chitosan
Quaternary
ammonium salts
Triclosan
N-halamine
7

8. Introduction
However, many of the commertially available
antibacterial agents used in textiles are either
environmentally toxic, have limited
antibacterial activity or are known to be
potentially cytotoxic.
ALTERNATIVE TEXTILE
MATERIALS AND/OR COATINGS
WITH ANTIBACTERIAL PROPERTIES
8

9. Objectives
Development of Antibacterial nano-coatings
for technical and biomedical textiles based on
Plasma Polymerized Poly-Pyrrole
9

10. Previous remarks
Biocompatible – No dangerous for the
human being
•
Easy to manipulate
•
Why
Poly-Pyrrole?
Poly-Pyrrole?
•
Tested antibacterial activity when is
prepared by oxidative chemical synthesis*
Positive charges
Inherent conductive polymer (ICP)
Antibacterial activity
*Varesano A, Synthetic Metals. 2009;159:1082-1089.
10

11. Previous remarks
Why
Plasma
Polymerization?
Polymerization?
PE-CVD
Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition
- Environmentally friendly technique – no solvents are used
- Low temperatures are achieved during the process, so
textile fibres are not damaged
- Easily industrializable process
11

12. Previous remarks
What is
Plasma
Polymerization?
Polymerization?
RF discharge
PE-CVD
Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition
Time
Pressure
Discharge power
Monomer flow
Carrier gas
Film structure
&
properties
Pyrrole gas
Textile fabric
Poly-Pyrrole
deposition
12

13. Previous remarks
Conventionally synthetized
poly-pyrrole
Plasma polymerized
polymers
Drawbacks
of plasma
polymerization
Loss of pyrrole
functionalization
Structure and properties
are highly dependent
on the deposition
parameters
D. Merche et al. Thin solid films 520, 13, 2012, 4219–4236
13

14. Objectives
CHALLENGE
Trasfer the antibacterial activity observed in
chemically synthesized Poly-Pyrrole to the
plasma polymerized polymer by
minimizing the loss of
funcionalization during plasma
polymerization
14

15. Experimental results
Deposition of poly-pyrrole coatings
on cotton fabrics
Cotton
HOMOGENEOUS
LOW ROUGHNESS
COATINGS
15

16. Experimental results
Optimization of the deposition process
-CΞN
Monomer flow rate
Pressure
Gas Mixtures
Discharge power
Doping
Increasing power
Time
Non-conductive
Poly-pyrrole
No antibacterial
activity
Broken
PPy
ring
180000
survey
160000
Intensity (cps)
140000
N1s
C1s
O1s
CKLL
27N
27D
28N
28D
29N
29D
30N
30D
120000
NKVV
100000
OKVV
I3d
80000
60000
40000
Si2p
20000
Pyrrole
0
1200
Si2s
1000
800
600
400
Binding Energy (eV)
200
0
16

17. Experimental results
Optimization of the deposition process
Iodine Doping
Induce the oxidation of polypyrrole structure
to obtain positive
charges
Non-doped poly-pyrrole
NON-CONDUCTIVE
20
% N+/N
16
12
8
Doped poly-pyrrole
4
CONDUCTIVE
0
50 W
35 W
20 W
N+
Positive charges
17

18. Experimental results
Measurement of the antibacterial activity
ASTM E 2149-01 procedure for fabrics
- Quantitative method
- Dynamic contact conditions
PPy Coated fabric
Escherichia coli
+
Bacterium inoculum
In buffer solution
shaken at 190 rpm for 1 h
count the
surviving colonies
of bacteria
24 h at 37 °C
18

19. Experimental results
Measurement of the antibacterial activity
20
% N+/N
16
Good antibacterial
activity
12
8
4
0
50 W
35 W
20 W
50 W
35 W
20 W
90
% Reduction of bacteria
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
19
Antibacterial activity against K. pneumoniae

20. Conclusions
CONCLUSIONS
Good antibacterial activity has been observed on cotton
fabrics coated with plasma
Iodine-doping
poly-pyrrole
polymerized poly-pyrrole.
is necessary to induce the antibacterial behaviour of
deposited
by
plasma
polymerization.
Doping
during
polymerization has been shown a much more effective method to induce
oxidation of poly-pyrrole.
20

21. Thank you for your attention
MATERIALS
María Monteserín, PhD
mmonteserin@ain.es
21

22. ANTIBACTERIAL TEXTILES
BASED ON POLY-PYRROLE
NANO-COATINGS
María Monteserín, Francisco Martín, Gonzalo G.
Fuentes, Rafael J. Rodriguez
mmonteserin@ain.es
22
MATERIALS