Abstract
Metallic oxide nanoparticles such as zinc oxide (ZnO) are extensively renowned for their potential use in biomedical material development. It is usually added in modern healthcare products as antibacterial agents. The fabrication of cellulose nanofibers (CNF) with ZnO is desirable due to its non-toxicity and excellent physicochemical properties. This study aims to develop flexible and microporous chitosan (CS) hydrogel film with ZnO-coated CNF nanocomposite (ZnO-CNF) via mixing and casting method to investigate its potential antibacterial activity. In this work, ZnO-CNF was obtained via a sonochemical-assisted route. The as-prepared ZnO-CNF/CS and CS hydrogel were characterized and examined using different analytical methods. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis revealed the strong chemical interaction between ZnO-CNF and CS. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) observations confirmed the presence of ZnO-CNF nanocomposite on the hydrogel surface. At the same time, energy-dispersive x-ray (EDX) spectroscopy elemental mapping identified zinc specks. Further, it confirmed that ZnO-CNF were uniformly incorporated in the ZnO-CNF/CS hydrogel film. The as-synthesized ZnO-CNF/CS hydrogel film revealed antibacterial resistance against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) (ATCC 43300). The finding of this study offers a new route of producing a sturdy CS hydrogel film with antibacterial properties for potential wound dressing applications.
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