Comparative Studies of Silver Nanocomposite Fibers

Functional silver-polypropylene nanocomposite fibers are prepared using melt-compounding and sputter coating techniques. The functional nanostructures formed on the fiber surfaces are characterized by Atomic force microscopy. The Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray analysis system is employed to examine the chemical compositions of the nanocomposite fibers. It is found that incorporating the silver nanoparticles by melt-compounding caused severe aggregation of the nanoparticles at the polypropylene fiber surface. By contrast, the coverage of the sputter coated fiber surfaces is much more consistent. The anti-bacterial properties of the nanocomposite fibers are also investigated and compared. The antibacterial tests revealed the better performance of silver sputter coated fibers.