Non-woven Membranes Electrospun from Polylactic Acid Incorporating Silver Nanoparticles as Biocide
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Non-woven Membranes E lectrospun from Polylactic A cid Incorporating Silver Nanoparticles as Biocide Haydee Vargas-Villagran1, Elvia Teran-Salgado1, Maraolina Dominguez-Diaz1, Osvaldo Flores1, Bernardo Campillo2, Araceli Flores3 and Angel Romo-Uribe1,* 1 Laboratorio de Nanopolimeros y Coloides, Instituto de Ciencias Fisicas, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Cuernavaca, Mor. 62210, MEXICO. 2 Facultad de Quimica, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Cd. Universitaria, Mexico D.F. 04510, MEXICO. 3 Instituto de Estructura de la Materia, C.S.I.C., Serrano 119, 28006 Madrid, SPAIN. * To whom correspondence should be addressed: [email protected] A BST R A C T In this research, we describe the electrospinning processing of polylactic acid (PLA) and the influence of silver nanoparticles on the morphology and microstructure of produced non woven membranes thus produced. The PLA was electrospun from a chloroform solution and a filamentary and granular morphology was obtained, the filaments having an average diameter of 1.25 Pm. When silver nanoparticles (of ca. 12 nm size) were incorporated, the filaments diameter was reduced to an average of 0.65 Pm, and the density of beads was also reduced. The membranes were rather amorphous, as revealed by X-ray scattering, presumably due to the quenching process associated with the electrospinning process. Water contact angle measurements showed that silver nanoparticles induced significant hidrophobicity in the membranes as neat PLA membrane had a contact angle of 54° and PLA/Ag membrane exhibited an angle of 115°. INTRODUC TION Polylactic acid (PLA) is a biodegradable aliphatic polyester, whose peculiarity is that it can be produced from renewable and sustainable sources. Due to these characteristics, PLA has been considered as an alternative to alleviate solid waste disposal problems, solving also a pollution issue. PLA is a versatile polymer which has many applications -depending on its enantiomeric constitution and molecular weight- including the textile and the medical industries. Moreover, when commercial production satisfies the demand it could be used in packaging applications and cookware [1]. There are several methods of modification of polymer surfaces, in particular the production of membranes [2]. Regarding biomedical applications, there is interest in the production of polymer membranes which can incorporate antibacterial properties. Thus, in our group it is of particular interest to produce membranes by electrospinning the biopolymer PLA, where silver nanoparticles can be incorporated. This is due to the well-documented antibacterial properties of silver [3]. Processing by electrospinning was studied over a century ago [4, 5], and the process was patented by Formhals in 1934 [6]. The technique received renewed attention from the 1980´s, coinciding with the high oil prices, and since the 1990´s much interest was devoted to the application of polymer electrospinning, this technique being pioneered by Larrondo and Manley [7], and Reneker and coworkers [8].
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