Electrospinning/electrospraying vs. electrospinning: A comparative study on the design of poly(L-lactide)/zinc oxide non-woven textile

New hybrid fibrous materials from the biocompatible and biodegradable aliphatic polyester poly(L- lactide) (PLA) and pristine or surface-functionalized nanosized zinc oxide were prepared. The application of the techniques: (i) electrospinning of a suspension of ZnO in PLA solution, or (ii) simultaneous electrospinning of PLA solution and electrospraying of a ZnO suspension in PLA solution (at low PLA concentration) enabled the fabrication of hybrid materials of diverse design: non-woven textile consisting of fibers in which ZnO was deposited on the fibers' surface (designated as type on) or was mainly in the fibers' bulk (designated as type in). The photocatalytic activity of the new fibrous materials was estimated in respect to Methylene Blue (MB) and Reactive Red (RR) dyes. Type on hybrid materials had higher photocatalytic activity as compared to type in materials. It was shown that type on materials preserved their photocatalytic activity in respect to MB even after three repeated uses, while for the RR dye the same held true for ZnO-on-PLA mats only. The type on materials exhibited antimicrobial activity against the pathogenic microorganism Staphylococcus aureus as evidenced by the performed microbiological tests. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.