Preparation and characterization of electrospun polyurethane/inorganic-particles nanofibers

To develop a novel functional fibrous scaffold, a blend-electrospinning technique was applied to transfer polyurethane/inorganic-particles solutions into nanofibers, in which titanium dioxide, copper, or/and silver nanoparticles were used. The resultant nanofibers were subsequently characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and tensile mechanical test. Furthermore, the structural change and the thermal properties of the electrospun fabrics were examined by X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry, respectively. Antibacterial performance of the resulting nanofibrous mats on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus was also measured. Experimental results have shown that when the ratio of polyurethane solution and titanium dioxide sol was in 3.5:1, 89.55% of the Escherichia coli and 82.35% of the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria were killed under a UV-light activation. However, the introduction of silver or/and cuprum nanoparticles into the polyurethane/TiO2 (in the ratio of 3.5:1) nanofibers led to a significant improvement in their antibacterial ability without any photocatalysis.POLYM. COMPOS., 33:2045–2057, 2012. © 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers