Cellulose Filter Paper with Antibacterial Activity from Surface-Initiated ATRP

Abstract

Poly(tert-butyl acrylate) (PtBA) bruhes were successfully grafted on the cellulose filter papers via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). Then the grafting PtBA brushes were transferred into poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) in the presence of trifluoroactic acid (TFA), which can form chelate complexes with Ag⁺. The Ag⁺ was reduced in situ to obtain the silver nanoparticles decorated cellulose filter papers. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to characterize the chemical structure of the resulting product. The morphologies of the filter paper at different stages of surface modification were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The silver nanoparticles decorated filter paper performed good antibacterial ability against E. coli as compared with the original filter paper and PAA modified filter paper.

Keywords:

• Surface-initiated ATRP
• filter paper
• silver nanoparticles
• antibacterial
• poly(acrylic acid)

Acknowledgments

The financial support of this work by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos.20874069 and 50803044), the Science and Technology Development Planning of Jiangsu Province (Nos. BK2007702 and BK2007048), the International Cooperation Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BZ2007037), the Pre-research Project of Soochow University, Program of Innovative Research Team of Suzhou University and Qing Lan Project are gratefully acknowledged.

Notes

^a Ag content was calculated by the equation: C_Ag = C_AAS× V/A, where C_Ag, C_AAS, V, and A are the Ag content, the Ag concentration measured by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), the whole volume of the AgNO₃ aqueous solution and the area of the filter papers, respectively.