Fabrication and performance of UV–curable Schiff base–containing antibacterial silicone modified materials

There are numerous noxious bacteria, fungi and parasites in environment for human survival, so antibacterial materials are significant for medical devices, food packaging, and personal care. UV–curable silicone modified antibacterial materials were prepared from Schiff base–containing silicone modified hyperbranched thiol and castor oil based polyurethane acrylates (PUAs) by UV initiated thiol–ene click reaction. It exhibited that these UV–curable materials show fairly good antimicrobial activity of Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) and Neurospora crassa. A contact–kill antibacterial mechanism was proposed according to the antibacterial behavior of these UV–curable materials. These materials also exhibit a fairly high transparency over 92 % and pencil hardness can reach 4H. It need to be pointed out that the surface water contact angle of these materials is in the range of 84.1°–74.7°, which means these materials exhibit a certain degree of hydrophilicity, which can overcome the shortcoming of traditional polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS) to some content. These UV–curable materials show quite good mechanical performance because the tensile strength of them can reach 11.6 MPa. It denotes that the UV–curable Schiff base–containing antibacterial silicone modified materials may be a good candidate of antibacterial materials. • UV–curable Schiff base–containing silicone modified materials exhibit fairly good antimicrobial activity follow a contact–kill antibacterial mechanism. • The materials show quite good mechanical performance with the tensile strength of 11.6 MPa. • The materials are with fairly high transparency over 92 %. • The materials have fairly high Pencil hardness of 4 H.