Abstract
Halloysite nanotubes with different outer surface/inner lumen chemistry (SiO2/Al2O3) are natural objects with a 50 nm diameter hollow cylindrical structure, which are able to carry functional compounds both inside and outside. They are promising for biological applications where their drug loading capacity combined with a low toxicity ensures the safe interaction of these nanomaterials with living cells. In this paper, the antimicrobial properties of the clay nanotube-based composites are reviewed, including applications in microbe-resistant biocidal textile, paints, filters, and medical formulations (wound dressings, drug delivery systems, antiseptic sprays, and tissue engineering scaffolds). Though halloysite-based antimicrobial materials have been widely investigated, their application in medicine needs clinical studies. This review suggests the scalable antimicrobial nano/micro composites based on natural tubule clays and outlines research and development perspectives in the field.
Highlights
Antimicrobial agents have abundant formulations, found in various applications in food packaging, medical equipment, fabrics, polymers, paints, cosmetics, and even food
The formulations were efficient for the inhibition of S. aureus and E. coli for over one week
Halloysite’s zeta-potential is ca. −30 mV, which does not allow for long stable aqueous dispersions, in many cases, internal nanotube loading with anionic drugs drastically increases the halloysite zeta-potential to −50–60 mV, making such formation of stable water-based dispersions applicable for convenient antibacterial sprays that are applied to surfaces
Summary
Antimicrobial agents have abundant formulations, found in various applications in food packaging, medical equipment, fabrics, polymers, paints, cosmetics, and even food. In some cases, loading was performed from the drug melt This process allowed for loading the nanotube lumen with 10–15 wt % of antibiotics or other drugs. Such formulations could be stored in dry state for years, and allowed for slow drug release within 10–20 h when placed in water. Functionalised nanotubes might be able to target specific cells, become ingested, and release their contents in response to a chemical trigger [36,37] This makes them promising for the creation of composite materials for bone [38,39] and tissue engineering [40,41], drug immobilization, and target delivery [42,43,44,45]. The only limitation for halloysite antibacterial composite applications in medicine is the restriction on intravenous injections due to slow nanoclay biodegradation and a lack of data on the halloysite injection influence on organisms
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