Preparation and antibacterial properties of poly(hexamethylene guanidine hydrochloride) modified ionic waterborne polyurethane

Abstract Antibacterial materials are widely used in various fields, and Poly(hexamethylene guanidine hydrochloride) (PHMG) is an effective broad-spectrum antibacterial agent with great potential in preparing antibacterial materials. Therefore, in this work, type B PHMG was prepared and incorporated into anionic waterborne polyurethane (AWPU) and cationic waterborne polyurethane (CWPU) following three incorporation ways (post-, in-situ and pre- methods). Subsequently, films were obtained by solvent-casting and their thermal, mechanical, contact angle and antibacterial properties were systematic studied. The results shown that owing to the strong electronic attraction between PHMG and AWPU, the stable PHMG modified AWPU (PAWPU) dispersions were obtained by pre-method only. However, PAWPU films has no antibacterial activity. In addition, the stable PHMG modified CWPU (PCWPU) dispersions were obtained by pre-method and in-situ-method. Unlike PAWPU films, PCWPU films exhibited excellent antibacterial activity, the antibacterial efficiency of PCWPU containing 2 wt% PHMG against E. coli is 98.4 % after 1 h incubation. Simultaneously, PHMG not leached from PCWPU films.