Durable antimicrobial coating based on silver

Monika Mitterhuber

This antimicrobial coating consists of a silica layer in which silver is integrated.

The silica layer is made by a Pyrosil process: A silicon compound is burnt in a flame and deposited on the substrate material as a cross-linked inorganic silica-layer.

The antimicrobial effect of silver has been well-known for hundreds of years. In its ionised form it is highly effective against a lot of bacteria and moulds.

The combination of the Pyrosil technique on one side and the silver on the other side creates a coating with special properties: Due to the silica network this coating has an excellent mechanical and chemical stability, and the silver causes a high antimicrobial efficiency.

The silver is embedded in the silica layer as smallest particles with a huge specific surface. Therefore in contact of water these particles are able to produce continuously a small amount of silver ions, sufficient to kill the bacteria but not to be toxic for human organism. Because of the nano-scaled size of the silver primer particles and their homogeneous dispersion in the silica-layer the concentration of silver is low enough that the coating remains optically neutral without any colouring.

The application of the coating is very easy. The substrate material only has to pass the Pyrosil flame in a definite speed.

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