Fabrication of silver nanowires-loaded polydimethylsiloxane film with antimicrobial activities and cell compatibility

Microbial contamination on various surfaces is one of the greatest health problems worldwide, afflicting millions of peoples annually. Given the advantages of silver nanowires (AgNWs) in forming a percolated network when fabricated into a film, there is significant interest in developing AgNWs loaded polymeric coatings for antimicrobial applications. In this work, AgNWs with high aspect ratio are drop-coated onto a silicon wafer to form a uniform interconnected network. The AgNW network is then embedded into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) matrix to fabricate AgNWs/PDMS film. The PDMS loaded with various amounts of AgNWs can efficiently destroy Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, and PDMS with 0.2mg of AgNW loading (i.e. 50μgcm^-2) exhibit excellent cell compatibility. Furthermore, AgNWs/PDMS films show a long-term antibacterial effect for at least one month. The utilization of AgNWs in polymeric coatings provides a novel platform to reduce the microorganism infection.