Tunning Silver@Gold core@shell incorporated in poly (vinyl alcohol) via laser ablation: Antibacterial activity and cell viability behavior for wound healing

This study aims to bio-modulate Poly (vinyl alcohol) crosslinked by silver and gold nanoparticles fabricated by one-step laser ablation. The optical, cell viability, and antibacterial characterization of the fabricated films have been studied via different techniques. FTIR and XRD were used to investigate the molecular structures of the polymer matrix of Polyvinyl Alcohol incorporating gold and silver (Ag-Au NPs) created by laser ablation. XRD data illustrate the semicrystalline structure of PVA, with two hump peaks at 2θ = 8.52° and 2θ = 20.17° that are decreased when loaded with Ag-Au nanoparticles at different laser ablation times. The FT-IR spectra demonstrated a variation in the intensity of different peaks compared to the spectrum of the Polyvinyl Alcohol. This suggests that PVA and Ag-Au nanoparticles interacted and complexed in semicrystalline areas. The optical energy gap (Eg) reduces from 5.55 eV to 5.00 eV during direct transition and from 4.79 eV to 3.10 eV during indirect transition. The cell viability value for sample S2 was 91.7 ± 5.8%, indicating that both nanocomposites are biocompatible. S2 represents the high values of the inhibition zone, which make it preferred in antibacterial applications. The results demonstrate that Polyvinyl Alcohol/metal composite materials have excellent cell viability and antibacterial properties, implying that they may be suggested in antibacterial utilizations.