Chitosan and functionalized acrylic nanoparticles as the precursor of new generation of bio-based antibacterial films.

This study represents a new method for preparation of acrylic/chitosan films with antibacterial activity and non-toxic properties through an environmental friendly process containing a water-base acrylic resin and chitosan as an abundant natural polymer. Functional and positively charged acrylic particles based on butyl acrylate (BA)-methyl methacrylate (MMA)-glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) terpolymer were prepared with layered structure via semi-continuous emulsion polymerization. FTIR spectroscopy confirmed the presence of epoxy functional groups and size distribution of particles were evaluated by DLS and SEM as well. Films were prepared through mixing of chitosan solution and the prepared latex for the first time. SEM and EDX analyses revealed that chitosan has been distributed through the polymeric matrix uniformly. TGA data showed that introducing chitosan increases the maximum degradation temperature. It was found that the obtained films including positively charged chitosan reveal enhanced antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus areus and Escherichia coli. Also cytotoxicity analysis shows reasonable non-toxic behavior of the obtained composite films.
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