Sputter-Deposited Ag Nanoparticles on Electrospun PCL Scaffolds: Morphology, Wettability and Antibacterial Activity

Porous scaffolds made of biocompatible and environmental-friendly polymer fibers with diameters in the nano/micro range can find applications a wide variety sectors, spanning from biomedical field to textiles so on. Their development has received boost last decades thanks advances production methods, such as electrospinning technique. Conferring antimicrobial properties these fibrous structures is primary requirement for many their applications, but addition agents by wet methods present series drawbacks. In this work, strong antibacterial action successfully provided electrospun polycaprolactone (PCL) silver (Ag) through simple flexible way, namely sputtering deposition onto PCL fibers. SEM-EDS analyses demonstrate that get coated Ag nanoparticles without undergoing any alteration morphological integrity upon process. The influence on wettability evaluated polar (water) non-polar (diiodomethane) liquids, evidencing coating method allows preserving hydrophobic character polymer. Excellent (reduction > 99.995% 4 h) demonstrated against Escherichia coli. easy fabrication PCL-Ag mats be applicable devices, bioremediation antifouling systems filtration, personal protective equipment (PPE), food packaging materials, etc.