Three-Dimensional Printed Antimicrobial Objects of Polylactic Acid (PLA)-Silver Nanoparticle Nanocomposite Filaments Produced by an In-Situ Reduction Reactive Melt Mixing Process

Nectarios Vidakis; Markos Petousis; Emmanouel Velidakis; Marco Liebscher; Lazaros Tzounis

doi:10.3390/biomimetics5030042

Three-Dimensional Printed Antimicrobial Objects of Polylactic Acid (PLA)-Silver Nanoparticle Nanocomposite Filaments Produced by an In-Situ Reduction Reactive Melt Mixing Process

Biomimetics (Basel). 2020 Sep 2;5(3):42. doi: 10.3390/biomimetics5030042.

Authors

Nectarios Vidakis¹, Markos Petousis¹, Emmanouel Velidakis¹, Marco Liebscher², Lazaros Tzounis³

Affiliations

¹ Mechanical Engineering Department, Hellenic Mediterranean University, Estavromenos, 71004 Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
² Institute of Construction Materials, Technische Universität Dresden, DE-01062 Dresden, Germany.
³ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece.

Abstract

In this study, an industrially scalable method is reported for the fabrication of polylactic acid (PLA)/silver nanoparticle (AgNP) nanocomposite filaments by an in-situ reduction reactive melt mixing method. The PLA/AgNP nanocomposite filaments have been produced initially reducing silver ions (Ag⁺) arising from silver nitrate (AgNO₃) precursor mixed in the polymer melt to elemental silver (Ag⁰) nanoparticles, utilizing polyethylene glycol (PEG) or polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), respectively, as macromolecular blend compound reducing agents. PEG and PVP were added at various concentrations, to the PLA matrix. The PLA/AgNP filaments have been used to manufacture 3D printed antimicrobial (AM) parts by Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF). The 3D printed PLA/AgNP parts exhibited significant AM properties examined by the reduction in Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria viability (%) experiments at 30, 60, and 120 min duration of contact (p < 0.05; p-value (p): probability). It could be envisaged that the 3D printed parts manufactured and tested herein mimic nature's mechanism against bacteria and in terms of antimicrobial properties, contact angle for their anti-adhesive behavior and mechanical properties could create new avenues for the next generation of low-cost and on-demand additive manufacturing produced personal protective equipment (PPE) as well as healthcare and nosocomial antimicrobial equipment.

Keywords: 3D printing; Escherichia coli (E. coli); Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF); Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus); antimicrobial (AM) properties; polyethylene glycol (PEG); polylactic acid (PLA); polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP); reactive melt processing; silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs).