Abstract
There is a dire need to engineer biologically robust constructs to meet the growing needs of 21st-century medical sector. The increasing (re)-emergence of human-health related pathogenic microbes has caused a havoc and serious challenge to health care services. In this context, herein, we report the development and characterization of various polymeric bio-composites with unique structural and functional attributes. For a said purpose, chitosan and graphene were used to engineer bio-composites, which were then functionalized by loading silver and platinum nanoparticles. A microwave-assisted approach was adopted to construct silver and platinum nanoparticles loaded graphene-based bio-composites. While, “one-pot” synthesis approach was used to engineer silver and platinum nanoparticles loaded chitosan-based bio-composites. As developed bio-composites were designated as GO-Ag-S1 to GO-Ag-S5 (silver nanoparticles loaded graphene-based bio-composites), GO-Pt-P1 to GO-Pt-P5 (platinum nanoparticles loaded graphene-based bio-composites), CHI-Ag-S1 to CHI-Ag-S5 (silver nanoparticles loaded chitosan-based bio-composites), and CHI-Pt-P1 to CHI-Pt-P5 (platinum nanoparticles loaded chitosan-based bio-composites). Finally, the nanoparticles loaded bio-composites of graphene and chitosan were subjected to characterization via UV-Visible spectrophotometric analysis, percent loading efficiency (%LE) analysis, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, mechanical measurements, and antibacterial attributes. The UV-Visible spectrophotometric analysis revealed characteristic peaks appeared at the λmax 420 nm and 266 nm which belongs to the silver and platinum nanoparticles, respectively. The graphene-based bio-composites, i.e., GO-Ag-S3, GO-Ag-S4, and GO-Pt-P3 showed optimal %LE of 88, 92, and 89%, respectively. Whereas, CHI-Ag-S4, CHI-Pt-P3, and CHI-Pt-P4 bio-composites showed optimal %LE of 94, 86, and 94%, respectively. Two regions, i.e., (1) between 3600-3100 cm-1, and (2) between 1,800 and 1,000 cm-1 in the FTIR spectra were found of particular interest. The FTIR profile exposed the available functional moieties at the surface of respective bio-composites. Variable mechanical attributes of silver and platinum nanoparticles loaded bio-composites were recorded from the stress-strain curves. All developed bio-composites showed bactericidal activities up to certain extent against both test strains. As compared to the initial bacterial cell count (control value, i.e., 1.5 × 108 CFU/mL), the bio-composites with higher %LE showed almost complete inhibition, with a log reduction from 5 to 0, and bactericidal activities up to certain extent against both test strains, i.e., Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis), and Escherichia coli (E. coli). In conclusion, the notable structural, functional, mechanical and antimicrobial attributes suggest the biomedical potentialities of newly in-house engineered silver and platinum nanoparticles loaded graphene and chitosan-based bio-composites.
Highlights
An array of multi-functional biomaterials is evolving with enormous curiosity for researchers due to their range of applications
Research is underway around the globe to engineer pristine or hybrid polymer-based bio-composites that plays a substantial role in a field of catalysis, enzymology, environmental, pharmaceutical, and biomedical applications1-5
Upon UV-Vis scan from 250 to 600 nm, a characteristic peak appeared at the λmax 420 nm belongs to the silver nanoparticles
Summary
An array of multi-functional biomaterials is evolving with enormous curiosity for researchers due to their range of applications. Research is underway around the globe to engineer pristine or hybrid polymer-based bio-composites that plays a substantial role in a field of catalysis, enzymology, environmental, pharmaceutical, and biomedical applications. Bio-composites can be engineered using naturally occurring biopolymers either in pristine form or the combination of multi-materials. Multi-functional materials-based bio-composites and/or nano-cues/nano-constructs have become a high requisite for new applications. Synthetic polymer-based bio-composites, nano-composites (based on pristine or hybrid biopolymers) exhibit inherited or improved structural and multi-functional attributes, for example, biocompatibility, biodegradability, (re)generatability, renewability, recyclability, high and efficient functionality against various substrates, induced turn-over, and overall cost-effectiveness are of high interest for numerous applications. Or collectively, all those properties of bio-composites open new and interesting perspectives with notable incidences in the environmental, biomedical, and biotechnological sector of the modern-day world
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