“Antibacterial activity of ZnO nanorods on electrospun polyethersulfone fibers”

The designing and realization of a smart-material must include a fast and easy synthesis, mild condition process, low-cost reagents, and as possible unharmful. It was evaluated the synergy of polymeric and ceramic properties of a composite material to achieve improved features. In this work, zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods (NRs) were grown on polyethersulfone (PES) by Chemical Bath Deposition (CBD). The growing conditions were opportunely tuned in the attempt to reach better deposition efficiency. The post-seeding annealing emerges to be a crucial step of the whole deposition process. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) techniques supported the study of the composite synthesis and optimization. The antimicrobial activity of the PES/ZnO mats has been evaluated on both positive and negative grams bacteria strains. The reduction of bacteria concentration can be followed by Optical Density at 600 nm (OD600) and residual bacteria concentration expressed in Colony Forming Unit per milliliter (CFU/mL). Among the numerous antimicrobial mechanisms that can take place, the cytotoxicity of zinc cations (Zn2+) has been examined. In particular, the Zn2+ leaching from the ZnO surface was detected functionalizing a glass slide with the H2T4 porphyrin, which is able to coordinate the Zn2+ cations and express UV-Vis spectroscopic variations after the complexation [1].