Polyurethanes (PUs) have been widely used in the coating industry due to their high flexibility and good UV resistance. Extensive formulations of PU coatings have been reported previously in the literature. Scientists nowadays improvise products whereby nanomaterial additives such as silver nanoparticles are incorporated to obtain antibacterial and antifungal properties. In this study, spherical shaped silver nanoparticles with an average size of 46 nm were added into polyol (polypropylene glycol) which was cross-linked with toluene isocyanate to obtain PU nanocomposite coating films. Characterizations of the coating film were carried out using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to observe the urethane linkage that was formed during the cross-linking and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope with Energy Dispersive X-Ray (FESEM-EDX) Spectroscopy analysis to determine size, shape and distribution of the nanoparticles. The antifungal activity of the nanocomposite coating was studied against Cladosporium cladosporiodes, Penicillium oxalicum and Aspergillus aculaetus. The results showed that the AgNPs-incorporated PU coating film has the ability to inhibit the tropical fungi growth.

聚氨酯 (PU) 因其高柔韧性和良好的抗紫外线性能而被广泛应用于涂料行业。之前在文献中已经报道了 PU 涂料的广泛配方。如今，科学家们即兴制作产品，其中加入纳米材料添加剂（如银纳米颗粒）以获得抗菌和抗真菌特性。在本研究中，将平均粒径为 46 nm 的球形银纳米粒子加入到与甲苯异氰酸酯交联的多元醇（聚丙二醇）中，得到 PU 纳米复合涂膜。使用傅里叶变换红外 (FTIR) 光谱仪对涂膜进行表征，以观察交联过程中形成的氨基甲酸酯键和具有能量色散 X 射线 (FESEM-EDX) 光谱分析的场发射扫描电子显微镜，以确定纳米颗粒的大小、形状和分布。研究了纳米复合涂层的抗真菌活性Cladosporium cladosporiodes, Penicillium oxalicum和Aspergillus aculaetus。结果表明，掺入AgNPs的PU涂膜具有抑制热带真菌生长的能力。