Abstract
In this short communication, TiO2-nanoparticle-functionalized biodegradable polylactide (PLA) nonwoven scaffolds with a superhydrophobic and superadhesive surface are reported regarding their water immobilization, antibacterial performance, and deodorization. With numerous regular oriented pores on their surface, the as-fabricated electrospun porous PLA/TiO2 composite fibers possessed diameters in the range from 5 µm down to 400 nm, and the lengths were even found to be up to the meters range. The PLA/TiO2 composite fiber surface was demonstrated to be both superhydrophobic and superadhesive. The size of the pores on the fiber surface was observed to have a length of 200 ± 100 nm and a width of 150 ± 50 nm using field-emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The powerful adhesive force of the PLA/TiO2 composite fibers toward water droplets was likely a result of van der Waals forces and accumulated negative pressure forces. Such a fascinating porous surface (functionalized with TiO2 nanoparticles) of the PLA/TiO2 composite fiber scaffold endowed it with multiple useful functions, including water immobilization, antibacterial performance, and deodorization.
Highlights
Controlling the wettability of solid surfaces is of abiding biological and technological significance for numerous processes in living organisms and considerable industrial applications [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13]
Polymers 2019, 11, 1860 kind of functional surface, efforts are mainly directed to the fabrication of nanotip arrays on a wide range of substrates, such as flat silicon [13], poly(vinyl alcohol) films [12], a silanized nanotextured silicon wafer coated with hydroxyl-terminated polydimethylsiloxane [11], aligned polystyrene nanotubes [9,10], poly(methyl methacrylate)/amphiphilic polyurethane (PU)/fluorinated PU ternary blend [8], poly(glycerol-co-sebacate) acrylate [14], and polydopamine-functionalized TiO2 nanotube arrays incorporating SiO2 nanoparticles [15]
The specimens were cut from the ES PLA/TiO2 composite fiber mat, with the area of 1 × 10 cm2 for the antibacterial test, and three kinds of bacteria were adopted as the target to evaluate the broad-spectrum antibacterial activity, including Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Candida albicans
Summary
Controlling the wettability of solid surfaces is of abiding biological and technological significance for numerous processes in living organisms and considerable industrial applications [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13]. The fabrication of superhydrophobic surfaces that can pin water droplets has aroused tremendous attention [8,9,10,11,12,13]. Little attention is paid to functional surfaces based on biodegradable and biocompatible polymers, which is expected to show more promising applications in medical therapies, waterproof sealants, and mesh grafts [14]. Apart from the fascinating water immobilization performance, the as-spun PLA/TiO2 nanofiber mat showed other useful functions, including antibacterial and deodorization performance, which holds substantial promise for biomedical engineering applications. It shows promise toward the stabilization of droplets in microfluidic diagnostics
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