Simultaneous Grafting Polymerization of Acrylic Acid and Silver Aggregates Formation by Direct Reduction Using γ Radiation onto Silicone Surface and Their Antimicrobial Activity and Biocompatibility.

The modification of medical devices is an area that has attracted a lot of attention in recent years; particularly, those developments which search to modify existing devices to render them antimicrobial. Most of these modifications involve at least two stages (modification of the base material with a polymer graft and immobilization of an antimicrobial agent) which are both time-consuming and complicate synthetic procedures; therefore, as an improvement, this project sought to produce antimicrobial silicone (PDMS) in a single step. Using gamma radiation as both an energy source for polymerization initiation and as a source of reducing agents in solution, PDMS was simultaneously grafted with acrylic acid and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (AAc:EGDMA) while producing antimicrobial silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) onto the surface of the material.