Unleashing excellent antibacterial performance of natural rubber composites via herbal extracts

Natural rubber latex (NRL)-based products often suffer from poor antibacterial performance, which limits their applications. Here, we fabricate NRL-based materials with enhanced antibacterial properties by incorporating natural plant extracts. Chinese herbal extracts/NRL compounds are prepared by compounding the relevant antibacterial natural plant extracts with the NRL, and the resulting mechanical properties and thermal stability are investigated. Mugwort/NRL and honeysuckle/NRL show the best antimicrobial effect, destroying the cell structure of various bacteria; no complete bacterial cells were found in the antimicrobial area. The excellent antibacterial properties，good cell compatibility and well-retained mechanical performance of the fabricated materials validate the proposed method as a novel, easy approach to preparing antibacterial NRL products. When the content of Chinese herbal extracts was 7.5 wt%, the Chinese herbal extracts/NR composites exhibited the best antibacterial and comprehensive mechanical properties. These products can be used in medical applications such as condoms, medical gloves, medical catheters and broaden the application of traditional Chinese herbal medicine. More importantly, the “template method” is proposed to rapidly determine the antibacterial ability of composite latex. This method can be applied to further scientific research and facilitate industrial production, providing strong technical support for developing more antibacterial latex products.