Transparent nontoxic antibacterial wound dressing based on silver nano particle/bacterial cellulose nano composite synthesized in the presence of tripolyphosphate

Abstract

Transparent antimicrobial silver nanoparticles/bacterial cellulose (AgNPs/BC) membranes have been fabricated by reducing silver nitrate as precursor in the presence of sodium tripolyphosphate and in situ impregnation into the bacterial cellulose membranes as template. The AgNPs formation was proved by SEM, EDS, UV–Visible and XRD. The results showed the successfully production and impregnation of AgNPs with 20–60 nm diameters which distributed in the bacterial cellulose matrix. The composites were transparent which allows continuous visualization of the wound without removing the dressing. Stability of AgNPs/BC membrane was evaluated after 2 months and they had long lifetime. The membranes showed good swelling behavior in deionized water during 2 h which is important behavior for biomaterial as wound dressing. AgNPs/BC membranes exhibited strong antibacterial activity against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria and the antibacterial ratio against E. coli and S. aureus were 100% and 99.99%, respectively. The AgNPs showed no antagonistic effect with Gentamycin and could increase its antibacterial activity. The AgNPs/BC membranes were nontoxic and showed good biocompatibility on peripheral blood mononuclear cells due to the controlled silver ion release. According to the results, it is suggested that the AgNPs/BC membranes can be applied for many antimicrobial purposes such as antibacterial wound dressing.