Polypropylene (PP) has some disadvantages when used in food packaging: PP does not have antibacterial properties, and it exhibits low barrier properties. In this study, nanocomposites of PP filled with different amounts of silver-decorated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs-Ag) were fabricated. A new nanomaterial with silver had the advantage of providing antibacterial capabilities, and the contribution of MWCNTs was to reinforce mechanical properties. PP was melt-blended with MWCNTs-Ag, but the ensuing problem was the poor interfacial interaction of fillers with the polymer matrix, especially at high filler content. Nonetheless, a small quantity of fillers resulted in the following improvement in nanocomposite properties, relative to neat PP: better antibacterial ability, lower water vapor permeation flux, lower oxygen barrier performance, higher thermostability, faster crystallization rate and higher tensile strength. Therefore, nanocomposites formed from modifying PP with a low content of MWCNTs-Ag show promise in the field of packaging and medical material applications.

中文翻译：

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银饰多壁碳纳米管改性聚丙烯抗菌纳米复合材料

聚丙烯（PP）在食品包装中使用时有一些缺点：PP不具有抗菌性，阻隔性低。在这项研究中，制造了填充不同数量的银装饰多壁碳纳米管 (MWCNTs-Ag) 的 PP 纳米复合材料。一种新的银纳米材料具有提供抗菌能力的优势，而多壁碳纳米管的贡献是增强机械性能。PP 与 MWCNTs-Ag 熔融共混，但随之而来的问题是填料与聚合物基体的界面相互作用较差，尤其是在填料含量高的情况下。尽管如此，相对于纯 PP，少量填料导致纳米复合材料性能得到以下改进：更好的抗菌能力、更低的水蒸气渗透通量、更低的氧气阻隔性能、更高的热稳定性，更快的结晶速率和更高的拉伸强度。因此，由低MWCNTs-Ag含量改性PP形成的纳米复合材料在包装和医疗材料应用领域显示出前景。