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Project leader Turalija Marina
Project co-leader: Sabyasachi Gaan
Administering organization: University of Zagreb Faculty of Textile Technology
Partner Institution/Company: EMPA, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials, Science and Technology
Grant type: 2A
Project title: Antimicrobial functionalisation of PLA polymer
Project summary: Main project objective is to perform part of the experimental work at the premises of host institution EMPA. Because of the lack of the requested equipment needed for the project it is necessary to continue already established cooperation with EMPA. Main research objective is to obtain antimicrobial functionality of biodegradable and sustainable PLA films or membranes, enabling their usage for food packaging or medical purposes. The objective would be accomplished by several modifications, either the bulk modification or the surface one, enabling interdisciplinarity within biomedical (antimicrobial agents) and food sector (PLA membrane for the packaging). Polylactide acid (PLA) is thermoplastic aliphatic polyester and currently finds use in diverse areas such as biomedical applications, textiles, composite and food packaging. It is one of the most studied polymers of this family because it can be produced via fermentation of renewable resources, like sugar, beets or corn starch. There have been only few reports in the literature on the development of antimicrobial PLA. In this research we will carry out surface and bulk modification of PLA to achieve antimicrobial functionality. The novelty of this research consisting of surface modification with different antimicrobial agents is in the application on the biodegradable and sustainable PLA polymers. Part of the modification would be done with silver, either as pure silver deposit or as silver nano-composite. Surface topography and size/distribution of Ag nanoparticles were found to influence the Ag ion release kinetics.
Hrvatski sažetak: Osnovni cilj projekta je izvršiti dio eksperimentalnog dijela istraživanja kojeg nije moguće provesti u Hrvatskoj, zbog nedostatka odgovarajuće opreme, nego će se provesti na suradnoj instituciji EMPA-i. U ovom istraživanju provesti će se modifikacije biorazgradivog PLA polimera smjesi sa svrhom dobivanja antimikrobne funkcionalnosti i istražiti mogućnost njihove primjene za prehrambrenu industriju ili medicinsku opremu. Provesti će se modifikacije u smjesi i površinske modifikacije pomoću plazme. Na taj način postižemo interdisciplinarnost između biomedicinskog (antimikrobna sredstva) i prehrambrenog sektora (PLA membrana za pakiranje hrane). PLA je termoplastični alifatski poliester koji se primjenjuje u različitim područjima kao što su biomedicinsko, tekstil, kompoziti i pakiranje hrane. PLA je jedan od najprimjenjenijih polimera jer se može proizvesti fermentacijom iz obnovljivih izvora kao što su šećer, repa ili kukuruzni škrob. Pronađeno je samo nekoliko literaturnih referenci iz područja antimikrobnih PLA materijala. Novost ovog istraživanja površinske modifikacije različitim antimikrobnim sredstvima je u primjeni biorazgradivog i održivog PLA polimera. Modifikacija će se provesti dodatkom srebra u obliku nanosa ili nanokompozita.
Amount requested from UKF: 69.811,00 HRK
Amount of matching funding: 65.010,00 HRK
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