Nano zinc oxide–sodium alginate antibacterial cellulose fibres

•Antibacterial cellulose fibres were fabricated from nano ZnO.•Nano ZnO is synthesized by precipitation method.•Nano ZnO acquires hexagonal wurtzite structure.•Facbricated fibres exhibit excellent antibacterial activity.

In the present study, antibacterial cellulose fibres were successfully fabricated by a simple and cost-effective procedure by utilizing nano zinc oxide. The possible nano zinc oxide was successfully synthesized by precipitation technique and then impregnated effectively over cellulose fibres through sodium alginate matrix. XRD analysis revealed the ‘rod-like’ shape alignment of zinc oxide with an interplanar d-spacing of 0.246 nm corresponding to the (1 0 1) planes of the hexagonal wurtzite structure. TEM analysis confirmed the nano dimension of the synthesized zinc oxide nanoparticles. The presence of nano zinc oxide over cellulose fibres was evident from the SEM–EDS experiments. FTIR and TGA studies exhibited their effective bonding interaction. The tensile stress–strain curves data indicated the feasibility of the fabricated fibres for longer duration utility without any significant damage or breakage. The antibacterial studies against Escherichia coli revealed the excellent bacterial devastation property. Further, it was observed that when all the parameters remained constant, the variation of sodium alginate concentration showed impact in devastating the E. coli. In overall, the fabricated nano zinc oxide–sodium alginate cellulose fibres can be effectively utilized as antibacterial fibres for biomedical applications.