Physio-chemical and antibacterial characteristics of pressure spun nylon nanofibres embedded with functional silver nanoparticles

Z. Xu, S. Mahalingam, J.L. Rohn, Guogang Ren, M. J. Edirisinghe

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26 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

A novel and facile approach to prepare hybrid nanoparticle embedded polymer nanofibers using pressurised gyration is presented. Silver nanoparticles and nylon polymer were used in this work. The polymer solution's physical
properties, rotating speed and the working pressure had a significant influence on the fibre diameter and the morphology. Fibres in the range of 60–500 nm were spun using 10 wt.%, 15 wt.% and 20 wt.% nylon solutions and
these bead-free fibres were processed under 0.2 MPa and 0.3 MPa working pressure and a rotational speed of 36,000 rpm. 1–4 wt.% of Ag was added to these nylon solutions and in the case of wt.% fibres in the range
50–150 nm were prepared using the same conditions of pressurised gyration. Successful incorporation of the Ag nanoparticles in nylon nanofibres was confirmed by using a combination of advanced microscopical techniques
and Raman spectrometry was used to study the bonding characteristics of nylon and the Ag nanoparticles.
Inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy showed a substantial concentration of Ag ions in the nylon fibre matrix which is essential for producing effective antibacterial properties. Antibacterial activity of the Ag-loaded nanofibres shows higher efficacy than nylon nanofibres for Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa microorganisms, and both Ag nanoparticles and the Ag ions were found to be the reason for enhanced
cell death in the bacterial solution
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)195-204
JournalMaterials Science and Engineering C: Materials for Biological Applications
Volume56
Early online date9 Jun 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Nov 2015

Keywords

  • Polymer
  • Nanofibres
  • Nanoparticles
  • Pressure
  • Gyration
  • Bacteria

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