A versatile chitosan/ZnO nanocomposite with enhanced antimicrobial properties

Porous chitosan membrane was fabricated by casting method using silica particles. Simultaneously nano ZnO was synthesized by green-synthesis method using tung ting oolong tea extract. Chitosan membrane was combined with nano ZnO in order to increase its antimicrobial activity. Through observations obtained from various techniques such as XRD, SEM, FT-IR, UV-visible and fluorescence emission analyses, chitosan was seen to be able to incorporate nano ZnO in the nanocomposite membrane. A blue shift (from 360 to 335 nm) was observed in the UV-visible spectrum of nanocomposite and fluorescence emission intensity of nanocomposite was considerably lower than that of nano ZnO. Gram negative organism Klebsiella planticola (MTCC2727) and Gram positive organism Bacillus substilis (MTCC3053) were used to test the antibacterial and antifouling activities of newly synthesized nanocomposite chitosan/ZnO membrane. The nanocomposite chitosan/ZnO membrane promisingly inhibited the bacterial growth when compared with as-synthesized chitosan. Gram negative K. planticola (MTCC2727) was comparatively more susceptible for inhibition than that of Gram positive Bacillus substilis (MTCC3053). In conclusion, nanocomposite obtained in this study showed enhanced antibacterial and antifouling activities. We believed that the enhanced physical properties of nanocomposite achieved by incorporating nano ZnO in the chitosan matrix could be beneficial in various applications.