Photo‑, Bio‑, and Magneto-active Colored Polyester Fabric with Hydrophobic/Hydrophilic and Enhanced Mechanical Properties through Synthesis of TiO₂/Fe₃O₄/Ag Nanocomposite

A polyester fabric with durable photo-, bio-, and magneto-activities was prepared in a single-step process. In the proposed method alkali hydrolysis of polyester fabric was carried out along with the synthesis of the TiO₂/Fe₃O₄/Ag nanocomposite, which enhanced the surface activity and nanoparticles adsorption, and produced ethylene glycol for reducing silver nitrate into nano-silver. The uniform distribution of the nanocomposite on the fiber surface was confirmed by FESEM and EDX. The fabrics showed an excellent photoactivity toward degradation of Methylene Blue under sunlight irradiation. The treated samples showed reasonable saturation magnetization and excellent antibacterial activity against <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> and <i>Escherichia coli</i>. The tensile properties of the treated samples were enhanced as compared to the untreated fabric. Moreover, a central composite design based on response surface methodology was applied to study the influence of Fe²⁺/TiO₂ and Ag/TiO₂ molar ratio in the prepared nanocomposite, and the appropriate molar ratios for the best photoactivity were obtained

Flower buds like PVA/ZnO composite nanofibers assembly: Antibacterial, in vivo wound healing, cytotoxicity and histological studies

Poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) nanofibers incorporated with ZnO nanoparticles were successfully fabricated by electrospinning technique. The developed nanofibrous composites were characterized by structural and morphological analysis techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). Good dispersion of the nanoparticles in the resultant nanofibers was observed and the incorporated nanoparticles of ZnO were in the shape of flower buds. Moreover, porosity and swelling properties of the prepared membranes were evaluated. Antibacterial, cytotoxicity assays as well as in-vivo wound healing experiments in mice were also studied. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of PVA/ZnO nanoparticles against S. aureus and E. coli was 250 and 62.5 μg/mL respectively, indicating the antibacterial activities of the nanocomposite fibers relating to the zinc oxide nanoparticles. In-vivo studies and higher values of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) further proved that PVA/ZnO composite nanofibers had accelerated wound healing properties. ZnO nanoparticles were responsible for the accelerated epithelial regeneration and better cell attachment based on the histological analysis