The main objective of this work was to prepare a tailor‐made electrospun nanofibrous samples based on poly(ɛ‐caprolactone) (PCL) containing tetracycline hydrochloride (TC‐HCl) as a middle layer and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) including phenytoin sodium (PHT‐Na) as lateral layers. The characterizations of the three‐layered electrospun samples were carried out by using SEM, ATR‐FTIR spectroscopy along with swelling/weight loss, UV–vis spectrophotometry as well as HPLC, antibacterial and MTT tests. The SEM micrograph images showed that the average diameter of PCL nanofibers was decreased from 243 ± 7 nm to 181 ± 5 nm by adding TC‐HCl. The hydrolytic degradation of PVA nanofibers in the exposure of phosphate buffer solution (PBS) was confirmed by ATR‐FTIR results in which a change at the intensity of the characteristic peak located at 3333 cm−1 corresponding to hydroxyl groups (OH) was observed. The UV–vis outcomes revealed a sustained control release of TC‐HCl from the three‐layered nanofibrous samples (PVA/PCL/PVA) with an amount of about 43% compared to the PCL nanofibers which had an ultimate release of the drug about 79%. Furthermore, the HPLC chromatograms showed the released PHT‐Na from PVA nanofibers about 87%. Finally, the MTT assay along with the antibacterial evaluation exhibited that the surfaces of these electrospun three‐layered nanofibrous samples have no cytotoxicity as well as the controlled release of TC‐HCl from them enabled their prolonged use for preventing the bacterium growth such as S. aureus during 24‐h treatment time. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 43309.

Exclusion due to membrane surface charge is considered as one of the main separation mechanisms occurring in charged membranes, which can be varied through various approaches to affect membrane rejection performance. In this study, thin-film composite (TFC) polyamide (PA) membranes were fabricated via interfacial polymerization of m-phenylenediamine (m-PDA) and 2,4-diaminobenzene sulfonic acid with trimesoyl chloride (TMC) on a polysulfone sub-layer. The ability of the prepared membrane to remove nitrate ions from water resources has been investigated. In order to improve membrane permeability, zeolite-PA thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes were fabricated by incorporating natural zeolite nanoparticles obtained through ball milling of an Iranian natural zeolite powder in the interfacial polymerization process. The size, morphology and specific surface area of the as-obtained nanozeolite were characterized using particle size analysis, FE-SEM and BET. The functional groups, morphology and surface charge of the membrane were characterized using ATR-FTIR, SEM and zeta potential analyses. Also, field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) were used to determine the distribution of nanozeolite in TFN membranes. The influence of zeolite addition to surface roughness was accessed by atomic force microscopy. The performance of TFC and TFN membranes was evaluated in terms of pure water flux and nitrate rejection. The results showed that in case of sulfonated diamine, nitrate ions rejection was enhanced from 63% to 85% which could be attributed to surface charge enhancement. TFN permeability was almost doubled by the addition of nanozeolite.