Novel Antibacterial Zinc Oxide Polymeric Nanocomposite Membrane as Wound Dress

Recently human resistance to external pathogen has led to the development of anti-bacterial wound dress, accordingly, the development of anti-bacterial wound dress using nano-Zinc oxide matrix has been examined. ZnO in nanoparticles morphological structure was synthesized using hydrothermal technique and were directly immobilized into polymer blend matrix composed of alginate-PVA. The hybrid mixture was fabricated by casting solvent evaporation into membrane film. The influence of variable ZnO amounts blended with the polymeric matrix in different weight ratios from 5% to 30% W/V on the fabricated composite membrane films was examined. The mechanical properties of the fabricated zinc oxide membranes were compared using the tensile test Machine to select the best concentration of incorporated zinc oxide nanoparticles into the polymer blend. The most properly prepared membrane was characterized using SEM, XRD, FT-IR and TGA. The most proper mechanical properties of ZnO polymeric membrane nanocomposite were recorded at blending ratio of 20% W/V. Both the XRD and FT-IR analyses indicated that possible interaction may be established between polymers and nanoparticles above the optimum blending ratio of 20% W/V declining the fabricated membrane mechanical properties. The antibacterial activity of the prepared membranes was assessed qualitatively by colony forming units (CFU) measurements. The antibacterial activity demonstrated a significant antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. This antibacterial activity was improved by increasing the incorporation of ZnO nanoparticle concentration in the composite membrane. Keywords: ZnO nanoparticles, nanocomposite membranes, Antimicrobial activity, FT-IR, ZnO.