Influence of printing configuration on the resulting topology and antibacterial effectiveness of PVDF-graphene composites

Inherently antibacterial materials could be an effective method to reduce the spread and impact of bacterial infections when incorporated into healthcare settings. The aim of this study was to examine whether additively manufactured PVDF-graphene nanoplatelet composites could confer antibacterial ef...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Antrea Spanou, Karin Hjort, Ken Welch, Dan I. Andersson, Cecilia Persson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-09-01
Series:Polymer Testing
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0142941825002090
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849398138620608512
author Antrea Spanou
Karin Hjort
Ken Welch
Dan I. Andersson
Cecilia Persson
author_facet Antrea Spanou
Karin Hjort
Ken Welch
Dan I. Andersson
Cecilia Persson
author_sort Antrea Spanou
collection DOAJ
description Inherently antibacterial materials could be an effective method to reduce the spread and impact of bacterial infections when incorporated into healthcare settings. The aim of this study was to examine whether additively manufactured PVDF-graphene nanoplatelet composites could confer antibacterial effects. The composites and reference filaments were produced with thermal compounding extrusion, which is a scalable method commonly used in industry, and were successfully printed using fused filament fabrication. The composites reduced bacterial attachment by 21 % and 81 % within the first hour of exposure for Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus respectively, when graphene flakes were exposed on the surface of the samples. E. coli strains were also examined for biofilm formation on the developed materials, but no additional antibacterial effect was seen, most likely because of the limited exposure of the graphene nanoplatelets on the surface of the samples. It was found that the surface topology resulting from different printing configurations, as well as the exposure time to bacteria had a significant influence on the biological response to the samples.
format Article
id doaj-art-373a106895a34342bc63cce6183b28df
institution Kabale University
issn 1873-2348
language English
publishDate 2025-09-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Polymer Testing
spelling doaj-art-373a106895a34342bc63cce6183b28df2025-08-20T03:38:43ZengElsevierPolymer Testing1873-23482025-09-0115010889510.1016/j.polymertesting.2025.108895Influence of printing configuration on the resulting topology and antibacterial effectiveness of PVDF-graphene compositesAntrea Spanou0Karin Hjort1Ken Welch2Dan I. Andersson3Cecilia Persson4Division of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Uppsala University, Sweden; Graphmatech AB, Uppsala, SwedenDepartment of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, SwedenDivision of Nanotechnology and Functional Materials, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Uppsala University, SwedenDepartment of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, SwedenDivision of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Uppsala University, Sweden; Corresponding author.Inherently antibacterial materials could be an effective method to reduce the spread and impact of bacterial infections when incorporated into healthcare settings. The aim of this study was to examine whether additively manufactured PVDF-graphene nanoplatelet composites could confer antibacterial effects. The composites and reference filaments were produced with thermal compounding extrusion, which is a scalable method commonly used in industry, and were successfully printed using fused filament fabrication. The composites reduced bacterial attachment by 21 % and 81 % within the first hour of exposure for Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus respectively, when graphene flakes were exposed on the surface of the samples. E. coli strains were also examined for biofilm formation on the developed materials, but no additional antibacterial effect was seen, most likely because of the limited exposure of the graphene nanoplatelets on the surface of the samples. It was found that the surface topology resulting from different printing configurations, as well as the exposure time to bacteria had a significant influence on the biological response to the samples.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0142941825002090PVDFGraphene nanoplateletsAntibacterialAdditive manufacturingFused filament fabrication
spellingShingle Antrea Spanou
Karin Hjort
Ken Welch
Dan I. Andersson
Cecilia Persson
Influence of printing configuration on the resulting topology and antibacterial effectiveness of PVDF-graphene composites
Polymer Testing
PVDF
Graphene nanoplatelets
Antibacterial
Additive manufacturing
Fused filament fabrication
title Influence of printing configuration on the resulting topology and antibacterial effectiveness of PVDF-graphene composites
title_full Influence of printing configuration on the resulting topology and antibacterial effectiveness of PVDF-graphene composites
title_fullStr Influence of printing configuration on the resulting topology and antibacterial effectiveness of PVDF-graphene composites
title_full_unstemmed Influence of printing configuration on the resulting topology and antibacterial effectiveness of PVDF-graphene composites
title_short Influence of printing configuration on the resulting topology and antibacterial effectiveness of PVDF-graphene composites
title_sort influence of printing configuration on the resulting topology and antibacterial effectiveness of pvdf graphene composites
topic PVDF
Graphene nanoplatelets
Antibacterial
Additive manufacturing
Fused filament fabrication
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0142941825002090
work_keys_str_mv AT antreaspanou influenceofprintingconfigurationontheresultingtopologyandantibacterialeffectivenessofpvdfgraphenecomposites
AT karinhjort influenceofprintingconfigurationontheresultingtopologyandantibacterialeffectivenessofpvdfgraphenecomposites
AT kenwelch influenceofprintingconfigurationontheresultingtopologyandantibacterialeffectivenessofpvdfgraphenecomposites
AT daniandersson influenceofprintingconfigurationontheresultingtopologyandantibacterialeffectivenessofpvdfgraphenecomposites
AT ceciliapersson influenceofprintingconfigurationontheresultingtopologyandantibacterialeffectivenessofpvdfgraphenecomposites