Morphological, Optical, Electrical Characterizations and Anti- Escherichia coli Bacterial Efficiency (AECBE) of PVA/PAAm/PEO Polymer Blend Doped with Silver NPs  

In the current research, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were mixed with a polymer blend to enhance their optical and electrical properties and antibacterial efficiency. A novel approach via introducing AgNPs into the polymer blend could improve the physical and antibacterial characteristics of the nanocomposites (NCs). In the loading process, two different amounts of AgNPs were respectively encapsulated with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyacrylamide (PAAm) and polyethylene oxide (PEO) polymeric blend via casting method. The prepared films were characterized by X-ray, optical microscope (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transformation infrared (FTIR) and UV/Visible. The OM and SEM images showed that the AgNPs were well diffused inside the polymer blend with some weak aggregations. The optical properties were enhanced after doping. The NCs films absorbed UV-ray at (λ=220 nm). The indirect energy gap decreased after loading from 3.80 to 3.10 eV but the direct energy gap decreased from 4.25 to 3.75 eV. The AC electrical properties were studied in the frequency range between 100Hz to 5MHz. The dielectric constant and loss of NC films were decreased with the increase of AgNPs, while the electrical conductivity increased. The inhibition zone diameters of Escherichia coli bacteria increased with the increasing of AgNPs contents.