| Abstract [eng] |
Electrospinning technique is based on a self-organisation via electric charges. It is superior to other techniques due to its straightforward setup and the ability to mass-produce continuous nanofibers from various polymers and their blends. This method allows to consistently produce fibres in order to observe thinner or thicker nano/micro fibres depending on an application when changing certain parameters. With smaller pores and higher surface area than regular fibres materials, electrospun fibres materials are successfully applied in various fields as biotechnology, filtration, etc. Though, the biomedical field is one of the biggest for nano/micro fibres applications. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) is an important biobased water-soluble polymer used in biomedical applications. It exhibits low chemical toxicity, high biocompatibility and good spinnability. Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) have a high antimicrobial efficiency against bacteria, viruses and other eukaryotic microorganisms and are widely used in the different kinds of textile materials. Over the past few decades electrospun nanofibers containing nanoparticles are generating notable interest in terms of the enhancement of various features. Comparing with the needle electrospinning system, the needleless one still has a high demand of further studies to be fulfilled. In regard to this interest, the aim of this study was to form nonwoven materials from PVP nano/micro fibres containing antibacterial Ag NPs by means of the needleless roller electrospinning system and to investigate the influence of the small amount of Ag NPs on the structure and antibacterial properties of electrospun PVP materials. The findings of the project exhibited that it was not possible to produce nano/micro fibres from 4%, 6% and 8% PVP aqueous solutions by means of the needleless roller electrospinning equipment. Under the same spinning conditions nano/micro fibres were successfully formed from pure PVP ethanolic solutions and PVP with different contents of Ag NPs. It was identified that the polymer concentration in ethanolic PVP solutions had the substantial influence on the morphology and the structure of materials formed by means of the needleless roller electrospinning system. It was found that Ag NPs had the influence on the morphology of electrospun PVP materials. Thinner fibres and denser materials were formed with the higher concentration of Ag NPs. In the materials formed from 4% PVP/0,02% Ag NPs solution, 47% of the nanofibers with the diameter up to 100 nm were recorded. The antibacterial activity results exhibited the comparatively high influence of the small amount of Ag NPs against Gram‐negative E. coli and Gram‐positive S. aureus. The highest concentration of Ag NPs in PVP materials demonstrated the highest antibacterial effect. Although the 0,005% Ag NPs content demonstrated the inhibition zone higher than 10 mm against both types of microorganisms. |
