Nanocomposite films based on chitosan–poly(vinyl alcohol) and silver nanoparticles with high antibacterial and antioxidant activities

The present study focused on the synthesis of chitosan–silver nanocomposite films (CSNFs) due to their potential application in various domains including wound dressing, packaging and water purification. Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were generated in-situ by using UV-irradiation and chitosan (CS) as both reductant and stabilizer. FTIR spectra revealed that the primary amine and amide groups of chitosan have specific interactions with nanoparticles surface. The diameter of AgNPs ranged from 170 to 200 nm as determined by DLS and TEM observation. Furthermore, CSNFs were tested for their biological activities and results showed higher antioxidant and antibacterial activities than chitosan film, which increased with AgNPs amount, suggesting that surface structures of chitosan strongly influence the adsorption of AgNPs and the antimicrobial activities. These observations indicate that nanocomposite films have potential applications as anti-infectious wound dressing. Many studies reported the toxicity of AgNPs and their health and environmental risks. For that purpose, cytotoxicity of CS–AgNPs was performed by MTT assay on Chinese hamster ovary R(CHO-K1) cell lines. Results showed that CS–AgNPs have no-cytotoxicity effect, which suggests the possibility of CS–AgNPs uses in foods and biomedical applications.