Antimicrobial PVDF nanofiber composites with the ZnO - vermiculite - chlorhexidine based nanoparticles and their tensile properties

Abstract The poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) nanofiber materials have attracted attention due to their enhanced and exceptional nanostructural characteristics. Electrospinning PVDF based nanofiber is one of the important new materials for the rapidly growing technology development such as nanofiber based conductive tissue engineering, scaffold materials, filters and medical textiles applications. At these areas the risk of microbial contamination is very high, hence in this study the PVDF nanofiber materials with antimicrobial zinc oxide (ZnO), zinc oxide/vermiculite (ZnO/V), zinc oxide/vermiculite-chlorhexidine (ZnO/V_CH) and vermiculite-chlorhexidine (V_CH) nanofillers were prepared by electrospinning, via one-step electrospinning process. The PVDF nanofiber diameters and their orientation were investigated using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The ZnO/V_CH and V/CH nanofillers with positive ζ - potential values were incorporated into PVDF nanofibers with an average diameter of 108 nm for PVDF_ZnO/V_CH and 100 nm for PVDF_V_CH samples. In contrast, ZnO and ZnO/V nanofillers with negative ζ - potential values reacted intensively with PVDF polymer. The slightly hydrophobe character was demonstrated by water contact angle from ∼100°. The chemical interactions were evaluated by the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The presence of the β-phase in the original PVDF and the small traces of the α-phase in PVDF_ZnO and PVDF_ZnO/V samples was confirmed. In the PVDF_ZnO/V_CH and PVDF_V/CH samples where the specific interaction of PVDF chains with CH a rapid decrease in the β-phase fraction was evaluated. The mechanical properties based on the Young's modulus (E) and tensile strength (Rm) values were evaluated from the tensile test curves. Antimicrobial activity (longer than 48 h) against S. aureus and E. coli for PVDF_ZnO/V_CH and PVDF_V/CH samples was obtained.