Biosynthesized ZnO NPs loaded-electrospun PVA/sodium alginate/glycine nanofibers: synthesis, spinning optimization and antimicrobial activity evaluation

Abstract

In this work, microalgae-based zinc oxide nanoparticles loaded with electrospun polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/sodium alginate (SA) nanofibers were fabricated by electro-spinner. PVA/SA fibrous mats were crosslinked by citric acid, which enhanced their thermal stability and swelling behavior. Green-synthesized ZnO NPs were laboratory synthesized and characterized by FTIR, XRD, EDX, SEM, TEM and TGA analyses. Electrospinning of PVA/SA with optimized mixing ratios was further carried out with different ratios of ZnO NPs of (0.25, 0.50 and 0.75%, wt./v) to fabricate SA/PVA/ZnO composite nanofibers. The formula of NF of (SA/PVA/ZnO (0.75%) with different ratios of glycine was used for testing as topical wound dressing as promised biomaterials. Results revealed that NF formula coded AS3.3; composed of (10%PVA/1.5%SA/10%CA/0.75%ZnO/0.5% glycine), in contrast to all the other formulations examined; showed marked reduced percentages of biofilm development of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria in relation to fungal cells. The relative viable count for Bacillus cereus (98.40 ± 0.51%), Salmonella paratyphi (98.33 ± 0.79%), and Candida albicans (94.29 ± 0.76%) decreased significantly after 36-hour of incubation period with AS3.3 treatment. The obtained findings offered that the prepared composite nanofiber based on ZnO NPs and glycine; could be used as a promising and excellent antimicrobial dressing for inhibiting the microbial growth for the topical wounds healing.