One-step Eco-friendly Fabrication of Antibacterial Polyester Via On-line Amination Reaction by Melt Coextrusion

The work is dedicated to develop a one-step eco-friendly method to prepare antibacterial polyethylene terephthalate (PET). We report a one-step eco-friendly method to manufacture antibacterial PET via on-line amination reaction by melt coextrusion. Beside evenly mixing of poly(hexamethylene guanidine) (PHMG) and PET in the melt coextrusion procedure, the amination reaction also occurred between PHMG and PET under high temperature (230–270 °C). The antibacterial ability of composite PET showed obvious PHMG concentration dependence, and antibacterial activity reached more than 99% when PHMG content was 2.5 wt%. Moreover, LIVE/DEAD fluorescence test further confirmed that the composite PET could kill bacteria quickly and effectively (within 30 min); while negligible cytotoxicity was observed to HSF and HUVEC cells. One-step eco-friendly fabrication of composite antibacterial PET was accomplished by on-line melt coextrusion. The composite antibacterial PET has potential use in multiple fields to combat with pathogenic including textiles, packaging materials, decoration materials and biomedical devices, etc.