Antibacterial chitosan/polyethylene oxide nanofibrous mats

The ZIF-8 nanoparticles were synthesized and applied for the fabrication of electrospun CS-PEO nanofibrous mats containing three different weight percents (3, 5 and 10%) of ZIF-8 NPs. The CSPEO- GA-3% ZIF-8 NPs crosslinked with glutaraldehyde (GA) vapor was also prepared in order to examine its properties and compare the results with those of non-crosslinked sample. According to the FE-SEM images, the spherical ZIF-8 NPs were ~60 nm in size and all of the nanofibers had average diameters of ~70–100 nm. Water contact angle test illustrated that the hydrophobicity of the CS-PEO-3% ZIF-8 NPs mat was the highest among other mats. Surprisingly, the CS-PEO-3% ZIF- 8 mat exhibited 100% antibacterial activity against both the Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative Escherchial coli bacteria. Finally, the CS-PEO-3% ZIF-8 NPs mat was considered as the most preferred sample for food coating/packaging applications due to its highest hydrophobicity as well as appropriate thermal and tensile properties.

Antibacterial chitosan/polyethylene oxide nanofibrous mats Keywords:

Antimicrobial activity , Electrospinning , Chitosan , polyethylene oxide nanofibrous mat.