Electrospun Copoly(ether imide) Nanofibers Doped with Silver-Loaded Zeolite as Materials for Biomedical Applications

• Published in: ACS applied polymer materials 2022-08, Vol.4 (8), p.6080-6091
• Main Authors: Hamciuc, Corneliu, Vlad-Bubulac, Tăchiţă, Bercea, Maria, Suflet, Dana Mihaela, Doroftei, Florica, Rîmbu, Cristina M., Enache, Alexandru A., Kalvachev, Yuri, Todorova, Totka, Butnaru, Maria, Serbezeanu, Diana
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2637-6105; 2637-6105
• DOI: 10.1021/acsapm.2c00892

One of the most versatile techniques to fabricate micro-/nanoscaled nonwoven fibrous materials is represented by electrospinning. Due to its easy availability and versatility, increasing efforts worldwide have focused on the preparation of natural and/or synthetic composite membranes that eventually mimic the artificial extracellular matrix. Electrospun composite membranes based on copoly­(ether imide)­s derived from Jeffamine, and additionally doped with silver-loaded zeolite L nanoparticles (ze-Ag+), have been successfully produced in the present work via a solution electrospinning process. The morphology of the developed electrospun membranes based on pure copoly­(ether imide)­s (co-PEI-0) and doped copoly­(ether imide)­s (co-PEI-0/zeolite or co-PEI-0/silver-containing zeolite L nanoparticles) was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), while the homogeneous distribution of the nanoparticles within the electrospun fibers has been introspected by means of energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Young’s modulus was reduced from 0.677 MPa for pure co-PEI electrospun fibers to 0.221 MPa when silver-loaded zeolite L nanoparticles were attached to the electrospun composite membranes. Antimicrobial activity of the products demonstrated that the samples containing silver-exchanged zeolite L nanoparticles present an inhibitory effect against both Gram-negative (Escherichia coli ATCC 25922) and Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923) bacteria. Furthermore, a biocompatibility check by studying the cell viability and cell morphology of the developed composite membranes revealed no cytotoxic activity.