Preparation and characterization of antimicrobial PVA hybrid films with N-halamine modified chitosan nanospheres

Chitosan is a promising candidate as an antimicrobial agent in food packaging materials and biomaterials due to its biocompatibility, biodegradability, non-toxicity and biocidal activity. In this study, chitosan derivatives, -(5,5-dimethyl hydantoin amino)-chitosan (CS-HDH), were synthesized. The CS-HDH nanospheres were prepared by ionic gelation method and characterized by SEM, FT-IR, XRD, and TGA-DTG. The prepared novel chitosan nanospheres in the range of 200-300 nm had good dispersibility. The CS-HDH nanospheres were used to prepare antibacterial PVA hybrid films by solvent evaporation technique. The surface morphology and thermal property of hybrid films were measured by SEM, AFM, and TGA-DTG. The results of antibacterial test showed that the hybrid film with 1.24 x 10(18) atoms/cm(2) of active chlorine exhibited excellent antibacterial properties against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli O157:H7, and all of bacteria could be inactivated within 5 min. (c) 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 44204.