Preparation of antistatic and antimicrobial polyethylene by incorporating of comb-like ionenes

The comb-like ionenes with aliphatic side chains were prepared and blended with a low density polyethylene (LDPE) for enhancing the antistatic and antimicrobial properties. The resulting blends were well characterized, particularly based on the surface resistivity (rho(s)) which revealed the antistatic properties of LDPE/ionene blends. The results showed that the values of rho(s) decreased 1-5 orders of magnitude after the ionenes were added. Various influencing factors on rho(s), including ionene structures, ionene content, and humidity were investigated in detail. Furthermore, the surface and inner structures of resulting blends were characterized by ATR-FTIR and SEM along with water contact angle measurements. The antimicrobial activities of the ionenes and the blended sheets were assessed based on the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values against E. coli and the growth inhibition of E. coli determined by means of a membrane adhering-colony counting method. The results indicated that the ionene with 4-carbon side chains had the lowest MIC value (7.8 mu g/mL) and the corresponding blend reached 99.9 % of growth inhibition.