Bactericidal effects of copper-polypyrrole composites modified with silver nanoparticles against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria

Abstract

The aim of this research is to study the bactericidal effects of copperpolypyrrolecomposites deposited onto 316L SS modified with silvernanoparticles. The antimicrobial properties were evaluated against twenty-fourstrains of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Among the twenty-fourstrains studied, isolates included reference strains (E. coli ATCC 25922, E. coli0157:H7 EDL 933, S. aureus ATCC 25923 and L. monocytogenes ATCC 7644),as well as strains isolated from food and clinical samples. The antimicrobialactivity of the composites demonstrated that all PPy-modified films hadantibacterial properties. Notably, Cu-PPyAgNp500 exhibited the strongestinhibitory activity against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria.Surface modification of 316L SS with these films is a promising and viablealternative for the development of novel antibacterial composites that can inhibitthe growth of a significant number of bacteria.