Preparing high-adhesion silver coating on APTMS modified polyethylene with excellent anti-bacterial performance

Abstract Silver coating as a broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent was considered to alleviate the inflammation caused by intrauterine device (IUD) in endometrium. In this work, to avoid the damage of silver coating and ensure its antibacterial properties, 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (APTMS) was introduced to modify the polyethylene (PE) substrate for the purpose of improving the adhesion of the silver coating. From the 90° peel test, it could be found that the adhesive strength of silver coating on the APTMS modified PE substrate was nearly 23 times stronger than the silver coating on substrate without surface modification. The dramatically enhanced adhesive strength could be attributed to the formation of continuous chemical bonds between the silver coatings and substrates after surface modification, which had been confirmed by the XPS. Moreover, the standard antibacterial test revealed that the silver coated samples against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) exhibit excellent antibacterial efficacy. Considering the largely enhanced adhesion and the effective antibacterial property, it is reasonable to believe that the silver coating could be considered as a potential candidate for the antibacterial agent in IUD.