Greener Approach To Prepare Electrospun Antibacterial β-Cyclodextrin/Cellulose Acetate Nanofibers for Removal of Bacteria from Water

This work reports the synthesis of beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD)/cellulose (CA) nanofibers embedded with silver (Ag) and silver/iron (Ag/Fe) nanoparticles (NPs) via a benign process involving in situ electrospinning of the biopolymers with Ag and Fe salts. The electrospun nano composite fibers containing Ag+/Fe3+ ions were then subjected to UV photochemical reduction in the presence of water vapor under inert atmosphere to reduce the ions to zerovalent state. SEM and TEM revealed that the average diameter of the beta-CD/CA nanofibers was 382.12 +/- 30.09 nm and that the diameters of Ag and Ag/Fe NPs were 38.81 +/- 8.21 nm and 56.29 +/- 12.64 nm, respectively, after reduction. The XRD and EDS analysis confirmed the presence of the Ag and Fe NPs on the surface of the nanofibers. The effect of UV irradiation time on the reduction of the Ag+ and Fe3+ was studied by measuring the UV vis absorbance of the reduced NPs. The biocidal effect of Ag and Ag/Fe was investigated using 12 different strains of bacteria. The Ag and Ag/Fe NPs embedded on the beta-CD/CA nanofibers exhibited a strong biocidal effect on all of the bacteria strains.