Kunakorn Poochinda

Preparation of antibacterial composite material of natural rubber particles coated with silica and titania

Silica coating, followed by titania coating, was performed over spray-dried natural rubber (NR) compound for physical and anti-bacterial characterizations. Titania has a strong photo-oxidative catalytic property, which can disinfect bacteria, but may degrade NR. Therefore, silica coating was intended to form a barrier between NR and titania. First, NR particles were prepared by spray-drying of NR compound latex, formulated for household glove products, mixed with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) to reduce particle agglomeration. The factorial experimental design was employed to investigate the effects of nozzle flow rate (500-700 Lh-1), inlet air temperature (110-150 °C), SDS content (35-55 phr) and mass flow rate (1.2-1.7 g rubber/min) on NR yield and moisture content. Then, the NR compound particles prepared at the optimum condition were coated with silica, using tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) as the precursor, by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) at 60 °C for 2-48 hours. Next, the particles were coated with titania using titanium tetrafluoride (TiF4) by liquid phase deposition (LPD) at 60 ºC for 4-8 hours. The NR composites were characterized for surface morphology by SEM, silica and titania content by TGA and EDX. The NR composites were found to cause more than 99% reduction of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus under 1-hour exposure to natural light.