Coating of modified poly(ethylene terephthalate) fibers with sericin-capped silver nanoparticles for antimicrobial application

In this work, a kind of amine-type PET fibers was synthesized by reacting hexamethylenediamine (HMDA) with methacrylic acid-g-poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET-g-MAA) fibers for the adsorption of silk sericin-capped silver nanoparticles (S-AgNPs) to produce antimicrobial fibers. Firstly, PET fibers were grafted MAA by using free radical polymerization technique and HMDA was covalently connected to the grafted PET fibers. Then, for S-AgNPs synthesis, 10 mL of AgNO3 solution (1 mM, 5 mM and 10 mM) was mixed with 10 mL of 1% sericin solution at pH 11. The obtained solution was stirred at room temperature for 24 h. The color change from transparent to yellow-brown indicated the formation of S-AgNPs. AgNPs formation was also determined by measuring the absorbance spectra of S-AgNPs between 300 and 600 nm using UV-Vis spectrophotometer. To determine the antimicrobial properties of S-AgNPs, agar-well diffusion tests were performed. 5 mM and 10 mM S-AgNPs groups showed antimicrobial activity on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. After characterization of the synthesized S-AgNPs with UV-Vis spectrophotometer, Zetasizer, FTIR and TEM, the modified PET fibers were coated with S-AgNPs (5 mM and 10 mM). The S-AgNPs coated PET fibers were characterized by FTIR, SEM and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. The antimicrobial activities of the obtained PET fibers were investigated on S. aureus and E. coli bacteria by using disk diffusion test. It was found that the S-AgNPs coated modified PET fibers exhibited antimicrobial activities toward both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. The resulting polymeric PET fibers containing nano-silver can be used as an antimicrobial surface for many applications such as wound dressing.