Antibacterial electrospun chitosan–polyethylene oxide nanocomposite mats containing bioactive silver nanoparticles

• Antimicrobial chitosan–polyethylene oxide (CS–PEO) nanofibrous mats were fabricated.
• Bioactive Ag NPs were synthesized by reduction with Falcaria vulgaris herbal extract.
• The electrospun CS–PEO fibers containing 0.25%, 0.50% (w/w) had ∼200 nm diameters.
• The silver release from nanofibrous mats was sharply increased within first eight hours.
• The CS–PEO-0.50% F. vulgaris-Ag NPs mat was preferred for biomedical applications.

The antimicrobial chitosan–polyethylene oxide (CS–PEO) nanofibrous mats were developed by electrospinning technique for wound dressing applications. Indeed, a green route was introduced for fabrication of antibacterial mats loaded with 0.25% and 0.50% (w/w) of bioactive silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs, ∼70 nm diameter) reduced by Falcaria vulgaris herbal extract. The mats were characterized by FE-SEM, EDAX, elemental mapping, FT-IR, contact angle, TGA/DSC as well as tensile strength analysis. All of the nanofibers had an average ∼200 nm diameter. Interestingly, both of the CS–PEO mats containing 0.25% and 0.50% bioactive F. vulgaris-Ag NPs revealed 100% bactericidal activities against both Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli bacteria. The silver release from nanofiber mats was sharply increased within first eight hours for both CS–PEO mats including 0.25% and 0.50% F. vulgaris-Ag NPs but after that the Ag nanoparticles were released very slowly (almost constant). The improved hydrophilicity, higher tensile strength and much greater silver release for CS–PEO-0.50% F. vulgaris-Ag NPs relative to those of the CS–PEO 0.25% F. vulgaris-Ag NPs suggested that the former was superior for biomedical applications.

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