Synthesis of silver/Fe₃O₄@chitosan@polyvinyl alcohol magnetic nanoparticles as an antibacterial agent for...

Bacterial infection causes wound inflammation and slows wound healing, posing a great threat to human health, which needs to explore more antibacterial nanobiomaterials to promote wound healing. Therefore, this study was conducted to develop low-cost silver/Fe₃O₄@Chitosan@polyvinyl alcohol (Ag/Fe₃O₄@CS@PVA) via a one-pot method to promote healing in bacteria-infected wounds. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) confirmed that Ag/Fe₃O₄@CS@PVA was successfully prepared. In vitro antibacterial experiments demonstrated strong antibacterial activity of Ag/Fe₃O₄@CS@PVA against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The Ag/Fe₃O₄@CS@PVA destroyed the bacterial cell membrane or internal structure, thus resulting in cell death for antibacterial effects. Cytotoxicity and hemolysis rate tests showed that Ag/Fe₃O₄@CS@PVA posed fine biocompatibility. In addition, in vivo assays confirmed that Ag/Fe₃O₄@CS@PVA not only promoted the healing of wound infection caused by bacteria, but also had no toxic effect on mouse organs. Therefore, the low-cost Ag/Fe₃O₄@CS@PVA nanocomposites have great potential in controlling 'bacterial' pathogen.