In situ growth zeolite imidazole framework materials on chitosan for greatly enhanced antibacterial effect

Zeolite imidazole framework materials (ZIFs) are a new type of antibacterial material with high chemical and thermal stability, and good antibacterial effect. However, powder ZIFs materials have the disadvantages of difficult separation and easy aggregation, which limit their application. In this work, ZIFs and chitosan (CS) were compounded by in-situ growth method to prepare a new antibacterial agent. The synergism of CS and ZIFs can effectively promote antibacterial effect compared with CS and pristine ZIFs, and CS/ZIF-67(1:6) has the best antibacterial activity, and its inhibitory rate (in 15 h) of E. coli is 96.75%, and the inhibitory rate of S. aureus reaches as high as 100%. This composites can effectively cause bacterial cell membrane rupture and leakage of internal nucleic acid and protein, leads to achieve antibacterial effect, and also exhibit excellent long-term (at least 5 days) antibacterial properties, the leaching of cobalt is below than 0.5 mg·L^-1, and this composites are with excellent bio-compatibility.