Ultrasonically developed silver/iota-carrageenan/cotton bionanocomposite as an efficient material for biomedical applications

Abstract

In this approach, we assembled AgNps on cotton by using iota-carrageenan as a carbohydrate polymer under ultrasonic waves. UV–Vis spectroscopy revealed that iota-carrageenan free radicals increased the absorbance values of AgNps at 438 nm under ultrasonic vibration. We also observed an effective reduction of AgNps by color hue changes in the colloidal dispersions, ranging from pale to dark yellow. Interestingly, the zeta potential values for the AgNps changed from −8.5 to −45.7 mV after incorporation with iota-carrageenan. Moreover, iota-carrageenan reduced the average particle sizes of AgNps/iota-carrageenan nanocomposite particles. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra proved the successful fabrication of AgNps/iota-carrageenan/cotton nanocomposites by shifting two bands at 3257 and 990 cm−1. Quantum Chemistry and Molecular Dynamics demonstrated strong interactions between AgNps and iota-carrageenan by changes in the bond lengths for CC, CH, CO, SO. Furthermore, new energy levels were generated in iota-carrageenan's molecules by exciting electrons under ultrasonic vibration. According to the thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) results, fabrication of AgNps/iota-carrageenan on cotton reduced the thermal stability of the resultant AgNps/iota-carrageenan/cotton nanocomposites. The average friction coefficient values of nanocomposite samples were increased in weft-to-warp direction that can be an advantage for wound healing, antimicrobial treatment and drug delivery applications. We did not observe reduction in the mechanical properties of our AgNps incorporated nanocomposites. Furthermore, the samples were tested for possible cytotoxicity against primary human skin fibroblast cells and no toxicity was observed.