Batch Fabrication and Characterization of ZnO/PLGA/PCL Nanofiber Membranes for Antibacterial Materials

As biomaterials with excellent biocompatibility, biodegradation and low toxicity, poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) are extensively applied as wound dressing and surgical suture in biomedical field. In this paper, an oblique section free surface electrospinning (OSFSE) apparatus was utilized to prepare high-quality and high-output ZnO/PLGA/PCL nanofiber membranes (NFMs) for antibacterial materials, which could significantly increase the production of ZnO/PLGA/PCL NFMs from 0.01–0.1 g/h of traditional electrospinning to 30.84 g/h of OSFSE. The influences of the weight proportion of PLGA and PCL on the viscosity and conductivity of electrospinning solutions along with the yield, morphology and wettability of PLGA/PCL NFMs were researched, and the optimum weight ratio of 6:4 was determined. Then the effects of ZnO contents on the electrospinning solution properties as well as the yield, morphology, structure, wettability, mechanical property and antibacterial performance of ZnO/PLGA/PCL NFMs with the optimal ratio of PLGA and PCL were studied. The results illustrated that additive nano-ZnO could improve markedly the antibacterial effect of NFMs, and the NFMs with 3 wt% nano-ZnO had excellent antibacterial effect on Escherichia coli (95.3 %) and Staphylococcus aureus (95.7 %).