Antibacterial Synergism of Electrospun Nanofiber Mats Functioned with Silver Nanoparticles and Pulsed Electromagnetic Waves
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Faculty of Education, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21544, Egypt
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Faculty of Engineering, Pharos University in Alexandria, Alexandria 21544, Egypt
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Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21544, Egypt
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Department of Engineering Mathematics and Physics, Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21544, Egypt
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Center of Smart Materials, Nanotechnology, and Photonics (CSMNP), Smart Critical Infrastructure (SmartCI) Research Center, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21544, Egypt
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Kuwait College of Science and Technology, Doha Area, 7th Ring Road, Safat 13133, Kuwait
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USTAR Bio-Innovation Center, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84341, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Polymers 2021, 13(2), 277; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13020277
Received: 26 December 2020
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Revised: 8 January 2021
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Accepted: 8 January 2021
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Published: 15 January 2021
(This article belongs to the Section Polymer Composites and Nanocomposites)
The over-reliance on antibiotics and their enormous misuse has led to warnings of a future without effective medicines and so, the need for alternatives to antibiotics has become a must. Non-traditional antibacterial treatment was performed by using an aray of nanocomposites synergised with exposure to electromagnetic waves. In this manuscript, electrospun poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) nanofiber mats embedded with silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were synthesized. The nanocomposites were characterized by Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Current-Voltage (I-V) curves, and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) along with analysis of antibacterial impact against E. coli and S. aureus bacteria, studied by bacterial growing analysis, growth kinetics, and cellular cytotoxicity. The results indicated a spherical grain shape of silver of average size 20 nm and nanofibers’ mean diameter of less than 100 nm. The nanocomposite mats showed good exposure to bacteria and the ability to sustain release of silver for a relatively long time. Moreover, the applied electromagnetic waves (EMWs) were shown to be a synergistic co-factor in killing bacteria even at low concentrations of Ag NPs. This caused pronounced alterations of the bacterial preserved packing of the cell membrane. Thereby, the treatment with nanocomposite mats under EM wave exposure elucidated maximum inhibition for both bacterial strains. It was concluded that the functioning of nanofiber with silver nanoparticles and exposure to electromagnetic waves improved the antibacterial impact compared to each one alone.
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Keywords:
nanofibers; silver nanoparticles; electrospinning; electromagnetic waves; antibacterial E. coli; S. aureus
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MDPI and ACS Style
El-kaliuoby, M.I.; Khalil, A.M.; El-Khatib, A.M.; Shehata, N. Antibacterial Synergism of Electrospun Nanofiber Mats Functioned with Silver Nanoparticles and Pulsed Electromagnetic Waves. Polymers 2021, 13, 277. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13020277
AMA Style
El-kaliuoby MI, Khalil AM, El-Khatib AM, Shehata N. Antibacterial Synergism of Electrospun Nanofiber Mats Functioned with Silver Nanoparticles and Pulsed Electromagnetic Waves. Polymers. 2021; 13(2):277. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13020277
Chicago/Turabian StyleEl-kaliuoby, Mai I., Alaa M. Khalil, Ahmed M. El-Khatib, and Nader Shehata. 2021. "Antibacterial Synergism of Electrospun Nanofiber Mats Functioned with Silver Nanoparticles and Pulsed Electromagnetic Waves" Polymers 13, no. 2: 277. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13020277
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