Antimicrobial Silver Nanoparticles (AgNPs) Coating of Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) Spinal Cages
Restricted (Penn State Only)
- Author:
- Kurzenknabe, Caden
- Area of Honors:
- Mechanical Engineering
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Ola Hamada Rashwan, Thesis Supervisor
Issam Abu-Mahfouz, Thesis Honors Advisor
Nik Tsotakos, Faculty Reader - Keywords:
- PEEK
Antimicrobial
Spinal Cages
AgNPs
Polyetheretherketone
Silver Nanoparticles
Polydopamine
pDA
Capping Agent - Abstract:
- Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) is a biocompatible polymer used extensively as a biomedical implant material due to its chemical inertness and mechanical properties. However, PEEK has no inherent antimicrobial properties. Biomaterial-associated infection is a severe postoperative issue that can lead to implant failure and requires revision surgeries. The objective of this thesis is to increase the antimicrobial properties of additively manufactured PEEK spinal cages using silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) as an antimicrobial agent. The polydopamine (pDA)-assisted method is a bioinspired surface coating that has been used to coat PEEK with AgNPs. Yet, the method has not been applied in conjunction with a capping agent to control the size and distribution of AgNPs. In this thesis, different concentrations of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) were used as a capping agent with the pDA-assisted AgNPs coating method. Although there were some variation in antimicrobial properties, antimicrobial rates above 99% against E. coli were observed while none of the coatings exhibited cytotoxicity. Additionally, scanning electron microscope (SEM) images showed that the introduction of PVP resulted in a decrease in the size of the AgNPs and a more uniform distribution. Furthermore, increasing the concentration of PVP increased the spacing between AgNPs. Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) confirmed that elemental silver was present on the coating surfaces. The results of the contact angle tests revealed that PVP also improves the hydrophilicity of the coatings, which can be beneficial for implant osseointegration. The findings of this thesis show that the pDA coating method with the addition of PVP has the potential to be clinically applied to PEEK implants to reduce biomaterial-associated infections.