Antibacterial continuous nanofibrous hybrid yarn through in situ synthesis of silver nanoparticles: Preparation and characterization

Nanofibrous hybrid yarns of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and poly-l-lactide acid (PLLA) with the antibacterial activity were prepared that contains 0, 5, 10, 20, and 30 wt.% of silver nanoparticles according to the PVA polymer content. This was performed by electrospinning using distilled water and 2, 2, 2-trifluoroethanol as a solvent for PVA and PLLA respectively, and sodium borohydride was used as a reducing agent. The scanning electron microscope observation confirmed the formation of AgNPs into the PVA nanofiber structure, and they were uniform, bead free, cylindrical and smooth. The diameter of hybrid yarns and their nanofiber component was decreased as the silver nitrate concentration in electrospinning solutions was increased. The differential scanning calorimetry results indicated that the silver nanoparticles can form interactions with polymer chains and decrease the melting enthalpy. The mechanical analysis showed a lower stress and strain at break of the AgNP-loaded nanofibrous hybrid yarns than the unloaded hybrid yarn. However, there wasnʹt a statistically significant difference between the strain at break of electrospun nanofibrous hybrid yarns. Moreover, the bactericidal efficiency of all loaded samples was over 99.99%.