Self-cleaning plastic is developed at the Institute of AMT

As part of his master's thesis, Andrey Tarasov, a student of the Institute of Advanced Materials and Technologies, conducted an experiment on the modification of plastic with titanium dioxide nanowires grown by the hydrothermal method. He took two samples of plastic - ordinary ABS plastic and modified with titanium dioxide nanofilaments (~1 wt%) one, and seeded the surface of both samples with staphylococcus colonies - bacteria that are found on human hands and can cause a number of dangerous diseases. Both samples were placed in a thermostat for colony propagation for a day. After that Andrey made an out-wash from the surface of the samples and placed it in a special nutrient medium for staphylococcus - staphylococcus agar. In a nutrient medium, also under incubation conditions, the colonies were kept for two more days. As a result of comparing the obtained samples, it was revealed that about 600 colony-forming units (CFU) were formed on the ABS plastic, and about 7 CFU on modified plastic. Thus, it was demonstrated that the addition of titanium dioxide nanofilaments to ABS plastic increases its antibacterial properties.

“We found out that titanium dioxide nanowires give plastic the ability to self-clean,” Andrey Tarasov explains. “On such plastic, staphylococcus, and maybe other bacteria, does not have the opportunity for active reproduction.”

The results of the experiment may be interesting to companies that produce equipment or accessories for hospitals, inventory for public transport. Plastic modified with titanium dioxide nanofilaments can be used to make door handles, switches, or other objects that a person comes into contact with. Today, research and development of methods for modifying plastics with an antibacterial effect or endowing them with other properties is a promising area for further research.