Antimicrobial behavior and photostability of polyvinyl chloride/1‐vinylimidazole nanocomposites loaded with silver or copper nanoparticles

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)/1‐vinylimidazole (VI) nanocomposites loaded with metal nanoparticles namely; silver Ag‐NPs and copper Cu‐NPs were synthesized via in situ reduction of their precursor salts. PVC/VI has been characterized by Fourier transform infrared and 1 H NMR spectroscopic analyses. The morphologies of the tested nanocomposites loaded with the metal nanoparticles were identified. Photostability of PVC/VI was estimated with monitoring the discoloration for UV‐irradiated samples with the irradiation time. The antibacterial and antifungal activities of these polymeric nanocomposites elucidated the synergistic actions of both VI and the synthesized metal nanoparticles on PVC matrix leading to their explicit antimicrobial effect. J. VINYL ADDIT. TECHNOL., 23:E25–E33, 2017. © 2016 Society of Plastics Engineers