Antimicrobial Polymers for Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies can be widely used for producing detailed geometries based on individual and particular demands. Some applications are related to the production of personalized devices, implants (orthopedic and dental), drug dosage forms (antibacterial, immunosuppressive, anti-inflammatory, etc.), or 3D implants that contain active pharmaceutical treatments, which favor cellular proliferation and tissue regeneration. This review is focused on the generation of 3D printed polymer-based objects that present antibacterial properties. Two main different alternatives of obtaining these 3D printed objects are fully described, which employ different polymer sources. The first one uses natural polymers that, in some cases, already exhibit intrinsic antibacterial capacities. The second alternative involves the use of synthetic polymers, and thus takes advantage of polymers with antimicrobial functional groups, as well as alternative strategies based on the modification of the surface of polymers or the elaboration of composite materials through adding certain antibacterial agents or incorporating different drugs into the polymeric matrix.

The role of additive manufacturing and antimicrobial polymers in the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Advancements in additive manufacturing techniques and development of antimicrobial polymers, offer the possibility of printing and customizing a wide range of medical devices. The critical limitation for the use of polymeric materials to additively manufacture critical medical devices is the material contamination by bacteria and viruses [5]. Previous investigations have shown strong evidence of the use of different forms of copper as a biocidal agent [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] and the use of copper nanocomposites to enhance the antimicrobial properties of polymers used in the development of medical devices [9,11,12].…”

3D Printing of Metal/Metal Oxide Incorporated Thermoplastic Nanocomposites With Antimicrobial Properties

“…Among them, FDM is one of the most popular and cost-effective printing techniques and is almost unique for printing of thermoplastics (Valino et al, 2019). However, microbial contamination still represent a challenge for biomedical applications of 3D printing, especially for handheld and medical devices (González-Henríquez et al, 2019a;Memic et al, 2019). In general, contamination associated with medical devices has been a serious issue in clinical treatment.…”

Antibacterial Drug-Release Polydimethylsiloxane Coating for 3D-Printing Dental Polymer: Surface Alterations and Antimicrobial Effects

“…Several strategies have been reported for the fabrication of antimicrobial polymers for 3D-printed polymers [ 10 ]. Direct incorporation of an antibacterial agent into dental polymers has been used to reduce plaque accumulation [ 11 ].…”