Antibacterial properties of in situ and surface functionalized impregnation of silver sulfadiazine in polyacrylonitrile nanofiber mats

Background: Silver, incorporation with natural or synthetic polymers, has been used as an effective antibacterial agent since decades. Silver has potential applications in healthcare especially in nanoparticles form but silver sulfadiazine (AgSD) is the most efficient antibacterial agent especially for burn wound dressings. Method: In this report, mechanical, structural, and antibacterial properties of PAN nanofibers incorporation with silver sulfadiazine are mainly focused. AgSD was loaded for the first time on electrospinning as well as self-synthesized AgSD on PAN nanofibers by solution immersion method and then compared the results of both. Results: Occurrence of chemical reaction among the functional groups of AgSD and PAN were analyzed using FTIR, for both types of specimen. Morphological and surface properties of prepared nanofiber mats were characterized by scanning electron microscope, and it resulted in uniform nanofibers without bead formation. Diameter of nanofibers was slightly increased with addition of AgSD by in situ and immersion methods respectively. Nanoparticles distribution was analyzed by transmission electron microscopy. Thermal properties were analyzed by thermo-gravimetric analyzer and it was observed that AgSD decreased thermal stability of PAN which is better from biomedical perspective. X-ray diffraction declared crystalline structure of nanofiber mats. Presence of Ag and S contents in nanofiber mats was analyzed by X-ray photo spectroscopy. Antibacterial properties of nanofiber mats were investigated by disc diffusion method was carried out. E. coli and Bacillus bacteria strain were used as gram-negative and gram-positive respectively. Zone inhibition of the bacteria was used as a tool to determine effectiveness of AgSD released from PAN nanofiber mats. The antibacterial properties of PAN nanofibers impregnated with AgSD were determined with both types of bacteria strains to compare with control one. Conclusion: On the basis of characterization results it is concluded that PAN/AgSD (immersion) nanofiber mats have better structural and antibacterial properties than that of PAN/AgSD (in situ) nanofiber mats. So, from our point of view, self-synthesized AgSD is recommended for further production of nanofiber mats for antibacterial applications.