Efficient antimicrobial silk composites using synergistic effects of violacein and silver nanoparticles

Violacein, a natural violet biopigment with efficient bioactivities from Gram-negative bacteria, possesses good affinity to silk fiber and complexes with silver. In this paper, a new approach involving the surface modification of silk fabrics with violacein for the in-situ synthesis of silver nanoparticles (SNPs) was developed. Violacein is used to modify silk material. Subsequently, silk containing bio-violacein was in situ assembled by silver ions and formed SNPs. Functional silk composites (FSC) containing bio-violacein and SNPs were obtained with effective synergistic antimicrobial effects. FSC were characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, UV-visible absorption spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. Exhaustion and amount of violacein on silk fabric were 65.82% and 0.16 g/g, respectively. SNPs were small particles with irregular shapes and sizes <60-70 nm. Antimicrobial activities of the FSC were evaluated against S. aureus, E. coli, and C. albicans. The silk fabric with violacein possessed good antimicrobial activity against S. aureus, with a bacterial reduction of 81.25%. FSC with violacein combined with SNPs integration exhibited good synergistic properties as excellent antimicrobial activities against S. aureus, E. coli, and C. albicans, with microbial reductions of 99.98%, 99.90%, and 99.85%, respectively. FSC not only exhibited the enhanced antimicrobial effects but also exhibited a broadened antimicrobial range.