Antimicrobial Properties of Orthopaedic Textiles after In-Situ Deposition of Silver Nanoparticles

Materials exhibiting an antimicrobial effect are especially advantageous for medical textiles which are in very close and long-term contact with human skin. Orthopaedic stockings made of terry cotton and polyamide were coated with silver nanoparticles by a simple dip coating process under mild conditions. Both textiles released silver ions over at least 28 days. The silver ion release for both materials is governed by diffusion. The amount of silver ions released by the cotton textile was higher than by the nylon stockings by about a factor of 4. The reason was a larger silver reservoir in the cotton sample, because it contains much more silver than the nylon fabric. As expected from the results of the Ag ⁺ release tests, both these silver coated textiles were active against Escherichia coli.