Green and Sustainable Encapsulation of Guava Leaf Extracts (Psidium guajava L.) into Alginate/Starch Microcapsules for Multifunctional Finish over Cotton Gauze

Utilization of natural products in medical textiles toward multifunctional applications without side effects is an extremely motivating goal. Herein, a novel, eco-friendly procedure was developed to introduce multifunctional cotton gauze fabrics using guava leaf powder extract. Biocompatible microcapsules composed of guava leaf powder extract and starch core and calcium-alginate (Ca-alginate) outer membrane were developed. The current strategy involved the identification and assessment of the bioactive compounds extracted from guava leaf via ultrasonic technique. Then, the guava leaf extract was loaded within a matrix of sodium alginate/starch and coated onto the cotton gauze fabrics. The morphological properties of both blank and treated cotton gauze fabrics were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The antibacterial activity of the developed cotton gauze was evaluated against E. coli as Gram negative pathogenic bacteria and S. aureus as Gram positive pathogenic bacteria using the agar diffusion and bacterial counting methods. Furthermore, the treated cotton gauze fabrics were also used to conduct further studies toward the production of wound healing dress. The treated cotton gauze demonstrated remarkable antimicrobial, antioxidant, UV shielding, and wound healing properties. As a result, the current study presents a new simple approach to design smart cotton gauze for multifunctional medical and healthcare applications employing bioactive extract from sustainable plant waste.