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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