Download Coelectrospinning of biological compatible polymers with

Coelectrospinning of biological compatible polymers with
antimicrobial substances and investigation of the antimicrobial
effect of the non woven materials towards different microbes
Vejledere: Peter Fojan and Esben Skovsen
The market of non woven materials has seen an ever increasing market in hygiene products. Another
prerequisite for the use of non woven materials in hygiene and wrapping products is that they do not
promote the growth of bacteria on their surface. The structure of non woven materials on the other hand
will promote the adhesion of bacteria on their surfaces. Due to the fact that non woven materials are non
ordered and non regular structures they present a quasi optimal surface structure for the attachment of
bacteria. As long as the non woven material is based on polymeric material resulting from mineral oil, this
presents a minor problem.
But since the use of organic non raw oil based polymers is steadily increasing and their biocompatibility and
biodegradability is becoming an issue, these materials also offer even more ideal growth surfaces for all
kinds of bacteria. This in turn makes the use of these electrospun polymeric fibers unfavorable for the use
in wound healing applications and also diapers. Here the risk of an infection is becoming higher the better
the biocompatibility of the polymer gets.
Metallic nanoparticles have been found to exhibit antimicrobial properties. AS of today there are different
products on the market which contain metallic nanoparticles to prevent bacterial growth. The advantage of
metallic nanoparticles is they are loosing their antimicrobial properties when they are aggregating, thereby
reducing their risk when they get released into the environment.
During the course of this project, the students will optimize the electrospinning set up for the production
of electrospun non woven material, together with metallic nano particles. These nano particles will be
incorporated into the fiber matrices or colocalised on their surfaces. The antimicrobial protection of these
fibers will be studied by exposing them to bacterial cultures of gram positive, gram negative and yeast cells.
The fate of the cells will be studied quantitatively by live dead staining procedures, which will be analysed
microscopically. The localization and form of the non woven electrospun material will be investigated with
SEM and AFM methods. The distribution of nanoparticles on the surface of the fibers can be studied by
absorbtion spectroscopy orAFM and SEM analysis of the fibers.
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