Anti-Microbial Properties Exhibited by N+ Ion Irradiated Polycarbonate Sheets
Abstract
In the present work, growths of bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa on pristine and irradiated Lexan polycarbonate (PC) films were studied. N+ ions at energies ranging from 50 keV to 100 keV with constant ion fluence of 2.68 x 1016 ions/cm2 were used for irradiation. The pristine and irradiated films were characterized using XRD, UV-Visible, Raman, FTIR, contact angle measurements and FE-SEM for studying physical, optical and surface morphological properties. The Monte Carlo SRIM-2013 simulations were carried out for computation of displacement per atoms per ion (DPA) and sputtering yield to support modifications occurred in irradiated PC. X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed that amorphization occurred for irradiated films due to the cross linking. The optical band gap from UV-Visible spectra shows significant reduction from 3.02 eV to 1.51 eV. The results of FTIR and Raman spectra showed the changes in the peak intensities due to chain scissoning of molecules. FESEM images showed pores formation on the polymer surface. Contact angle increased after ion irradiation indicating change in hydrophilic to hydrophobic nature of PC films. These results assure the surface modification in the irradiated polycarbonate which helps in growth inhibition of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from 10% to 50% as revealed from SEM images.