Preparation of Electrospun Gelatin Mat with Incorporated Zinc Oxide/Graphene Oxide and Its Antibacterial Activity.

Honghai Li,Yanchuan Guo,Yu Chen,Geng Yang,Yisheng Xu,Weipeng Lu

doi:10.3390/molecules25051043

Abstract

Current wound dressings have poor antimicrobial activities and are difficult to degrade. Therefore, biodegradable and antibacterial dressings are urgently needed. In this article, we used the hydrothermal method and side-by-side electrospinning technology to prepare a gelatin mat with incorporated zinc oxide/graphene oxide (ZnO/GO) nanocomposites. The resultant fibers were characterized by field emission environment scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Results indicated that the gelatin fibers had good morphology, and ZnO/GO nanocomposites were uniformly dispersed on the fibers. The loss of Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) viability were observed to more than 90% with the incorporation of ZnO/GO. The degradation process showed that the composite fibers completely degraded within 7 days and had good controllable degradation characteristics. This study demonstrated the potential applicability of ZnO/GO-gelatin mats with excellent antibacterial properties as wound dressing material.

Highlights

Almost all wounds are polluted by bacteria to varying degrees from the air or tissues near the wounds
Biodegradability and low immunogenicity make it widely used as a raw material of medical materials [7,8], especially gelatin nanofibers based on electrospinning technology that have the features of large porosity, large specific surface area and strong adsorption
It is the first time that zinc oxide/graphene oxide (ZnO/graphene oxide (GO)) nanocomposites were incorporated into gelatin fibers by side-by-side electrospinning technique to serve as a wound dressing

Summary

Introduction

Almost all wounds are polluted by bacteria to varying degrees from the air or tissues near the wounds. Traditional wound dressings are mainly made of cotton and yarn; the material0 s lack of antibacterial activity requires the need for it to be replaced frequently to keep the wound clean, which may cause secondary injury to the wound [3,4]. Replacing wound dressings frequently generates medical waste, causing a lot of pollution to the environment and human beings and wastes resources in subsequent treatment processes [5,6]. A wound dressing made of biocompatible materials with good antibacterial activities and biodegradability has become a research hotspot. Biodegradability and low immunogenicity make it widely used as a raw material of medical materials [7,8], especially gelatin nanofibers based on electrospinning technology that have the features of large porosity, large specific surface area and strong adsorption.

Methods

Results

Conclusion