Polymer Based Antimicrobial Coatings as Potential Biomaterial : A Review

Antimicrobial polymers are class of polymers with antimicrobial activity. The control of microbial infection is a very important issue in modern society. Increasing hygiene standards and the threat of infectious disease demand materials with surfaces that inhibit the survival and proliferation of microbes. The antimicrobial polymers are produced by attaching or inserting an active antimicrobial agent onto polymer backbone via an alkyl or acetyl linker. These are the upcoming new class of disinfectants which can be used even as an alternative to antibiotics in some cases. The treatment of microbial infections becomes more and more difficult because the number of resistant microbial strains as well as that of antibiotic-immune patients grows a lot faster than the number of useable antibiotics. The use of antimicrobial polymers offers promise for enhancing the efficacy of some existing antimicrobial agents and minimizing the environmental problems accompanying conventional antimicrobial agents by reducing the residual toxicity of the agents, increasing their selectivity and prolonging the lifetime of the antimicrobial agents. Antimicrobials gain interest from both academic research and industry due to their potential to provide quality and safety benefits to many materials. The present review considers the factors affecting the antimicrobial activity, synthetic methods of preparation and activities of antimicrobial polymers, application of antimicrobial polymers in different fields and future prospects.