Antimicrobial Effect of Additive Silver Nanoparticles to Paints for Reducing the Risk of Cross-Contamination

Paints are mainly used to protect metal structures from rusting and object from adverse effects of weather and sun, in addition to decoration. Most paints are either oil-based or water-based and both have distinct advantages. It can be applied as a solid, a gaseous suspension (aerosol) or a liquid. The increasing demand for new antimicrobial paints is rising recently due to the important need to avoid the spreading of infections mainly caused by harmful microorganisms. The antimicrobial additive can be defined as the additive compound that can resist or prevents the growth of harmful microbes. In this connection, a number of critical factors should be considered in selecting the additive antimicrobials to paints. These factors include safe from adverse impacts on human health and environment, antimicrobial efficiency, achieve a broad spectrum of microbial control, low percentage of the antimicrobial additive, ease of handling, fast and long-acting, migration capability, chemical stability, cost-effective and maintaining the properties of the product and its components. In the case of edible coatings which provide a unique opportunity to control microbial and oxidative changes in human ready-to-use food products, suitable safe materials and active agents for different cases should be applied. To make the traditional paints resistant to pathogenic microorganisms, it is of importance to include several antimicrobial additives, such as silver and zinc ions during the manufacturing process. Silver is a widely used technology in the world, especially in its nano-particle form due to its suitability for deployment in a broad range of materials and applications and its broad spectrum performance. This durable treatment will provide to a large extent effective protection against harmful fungi, bacteria, viruses and consequently helping to minimize staining and material degradation on any surface it is applied to. These antimicrobial paints (APs) can be used in places that harbor pathogenic microorganisms such as hospitals, schools, care homes, kitchen areas, dental and veterinary practices and food production factories. In these places, APs can be applied to contact surfaces within these environments, such as door handles, light switches, flooring, elevator buttons, and bathroom in order to reduce the risk of cross-contamination.