Synthesis of antimicrobial additives to control fungal growth in waterborne coatings

Abstract

Controlled microbial growth on indoor surfaces constitutes an important issue for healthy human development. Many pathogens are persistent and frequently contaminate the surface environment. Among the microorganisms that manage to form biofilms on indoor surfaces, fungi are the most deteriorating and resistant. Thus, the immobilization of antimicrobial agents in multiple materials, obtained by sol-gel, is an important tools to deal with this problem. The aim of this work was to synthesize different silica and zirconia-solids by the sol-gel method with the inclusion of Ag in order to develop antimicrobial additives. The synthesized solids were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), specific surface area (SBET), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and, the antifungal activity of the additives was assessed by agar plate inhibition against Chaetomium globosum and Alternaria alternata. After the inclusion as additives into the waterborne paint formulation the bio-resistance to fungal growth was evaluated by accelerated four-week agar plate assay.