Elastic Nanofibrous Membranes for Medical and Personal Protection Applications: Manufacturing, Anti-COVID-19, and Anti-Colistin Resistant Bacteria Evaluation

Abstract

Herein, in the present work two series of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) nanofibers were manufactured using the electrospinning techniques with ZnO and CuO nanoparticles for a potential use as an elastic functional layer in antimicrobial applications. Percentages of 0%, 2 wt%, and 4 wt% of the nanoparticles were used. The morphological characterization of the electrospun TPU and TPU/NPs composites nanofibers were observed by using scanning electron microscopy to show the average fiber diameter and it was in the range of 90–150 nm with a significant impact of the nanoparticle type. Mechanical characterization showed that TPU nanofiber membranes exhibit excellent mechanical properties with ultra-high elastic properties. Elongation at break reached up to 92.5%. The assessment of the developed nanofiber membranes for medical and personal protection applications was done against various colistin resistant bacterial strains and the results showed an increment activity by increasing the metal oxide concentration up to 83% reduction rate by using TPU/ZnO 4% nanofibers against K. pneumoniae strain 10. The bacterial growth was completely eradicated after 8 and 16 h incubation with TPU/ZnO and TPU/CuO nanofibers, respectively. The nanofibers SEM study reveals the adsorption of the bacterial cells on the metal oxides nanofibers surface which led to cell lysis and releasing of their content. Finally, in vitro study against Spike S-protein from SARS-CoV-2 was also evaluated to investigate the potent effectiveness of the proposed nanofibers in the virus deactivation. The results showed that the metal oxide concentration is an effective factor in the antiviral activity due to the observed pattern of increasing the antibacterial and antiviral activity by increasing the metal oxide concentration; however, TPU/ZnO nanofibers showed a potent antiviral activity in relation to TPU/CuO.

Silver/Snail Mucous PVA Nanofibers: Electrospun Synthesis and Antibacterial and Wound Healing Activities

“…Eobania vermiculata mucus inhibited the growth of Escherichia coli , Staphylococcus aureus , and Staphylococcus epidermidis , but no activity was noticed against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterococcus faecium [ 25 ]. Ag nanoparticles’ antibacterial activity may be elucidated by the Ag ions’ entry into bacterial cells via diffusion and osmosis, causing cell enzyme and protease denaturation, followed by bacterial cell destruction [ 19 , 28 ].…”

“…The morphology of the electrospun nanofibers were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) (JEOL, JSM-6010LV-SEM, Tokyo, Japan). The average fiber diameter and distribution were measured using software (Madison, WI, USA) [ 19 ].…”

Degradation of plastics associated with the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Other authors have developed antiviral/antibacterial biodegradable cellulose textiles for manufacturing face masks with the aim of making woven environmentally friendly and bioprotective materials with the potential to minimize MPs pollution ( Deng et al, 2022 ). Alshabanah et al (2021) have synthesized thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) nanofibers impregnated with ZnO and CuO nanoparticles or personal protection applications to supply or improve the antiviral properties of the textiles polymer. However, the problem is also short-term due to the concern about the indiscriminate disposal of PPE (mainly face masks).…”

Morphology evolution of self‐same nanocomposites hybridized with jumbo‐sized particles

“…Electrospinning is an over‐a‐century old, powerful, and facile technique to fabricate nanofibers 1‐4 . Mats of electrospinning nanofibers have found applications in many engineering fields stretching from environmental filters for water and air purifications 5 to medical filters for virus removal, 6,7 from scaffolds for tissue regeneration 8 to toughening interlayers for laminated composites 9–21 …”

“…Electrospinning is an over-a-century old, powerful, and facile technique to fabricate nanofibers. [1][2][3][4] Mats of electrospinning nanofibers have found applications in many engineering fields stretching from environmental filters for water and air purifications 5 to medical filters for virus removal, 6,7 from scaffolds for tissue regeneration 8 to toughening interlayers for laminated composites. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] In its simplest form, the process operates by pumping a polymer solution through a micron-sized nozzle while exposing the solution stream to an electrostatic field.…”