Supermolecular film crosslinked by polyoxometalate and chitosan with superior antimicrobial effect

This paper reported a facile strategy to fabricate ionically crosslinked supramolecular film, in which an in situ formed chitosan ionic film was produced by post-crosslinking the chitosan chains using negatively charged anion polyoxometalate. The incorporation of polyoxometalate into the chitosan ionic system accelerated the crosslinked degree, as evidenced by an increase in surface wrinkle via scanning electron microscopy. Interestingly, the resultant supramolecular film realized the combination of prominent antimicrobial effect and excellent biocompatibility, which was considered to have enormous application potential range from biomedical to environmental science. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.