Antimicrobial activity of silver free powder coatings based on biocomponents

In this work, silver-free low-temperature curing epoxy powder coatings with antimicrobial properties were developed. To achieve this, the cationic biopolymer ε-polylysine (PLY) in its protonated form was used, along with intercalation products of PLY and co-intercalation products of PLY and aminododecanoic acid (ADA) in montmorillonite (MMT), as environmentally friendly alternative. The powder coatings were formulated using epoxy resin and a highly reactive phenolic curing agent. The resulting coatings were characterized in terms of surface roughness, gloss, scratch resistance, hardness, adhesion to steel, water contact angle, and antimicrobial resistance. A mechanism of antimicrobial activity was proposed.