Electrospinning and antimicrobial properties of PAN–Cu2O/ZnO nanofibers from green peel extracts

Abstract

This study described the antimicrobial activities of waste biomass-mediated Cu2O/ZnO bi-oxide (BiO) nanocomposites; The Orange peels extract (OPE), and lemon peels extract(LPE), were used to synthesize the bioxide nanoparticles(NPs) designated as OPE/BiONPs, and LPE/BiONPs respectively, and characterized with x-ray diffraction (XRD), and zeta potential (ZP); The average crystalline sizes computed were 11.57 nm and 13.36 nm for OPE/BiONPs and LPE/BiONPs respectively; The zeta potentials values were −36.8 mV, and −35.5 mV for OPE/BiONPs, and LPE/BiONPs respectively; Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) polymer and the BiONPs blends were electrospun into nanofibers to get unblended PAN nanofiber(NF), OPE/BiO NF, and LPE/BiO NF; Scanning electron microscopic (SEM) analysis was used to determine the morphology of the electrospun nanocomposites; The NF, the OPE/BiO NF, and LPE/BiO NF possessed average diameters of 833 ± 125, 282.86 ± 29, and 558.76 ± 81 nm respectively; The nanofibers were examined for their antimicrobial activities against five (5) pathogens of public health significance comprising Gram-positive (Bacillus cereus and Enterococcus faecalis) and Gram-negative (Salmonella enteritidis, Escherichia coli, and Vibrio cholerae) bacteria, using the standard dilution microplate-method; The synthesized nanomaterials showed various levels of inhibitory activities against the target pathogens. The LPE/BiO NPs exhibited 98% inhibition to the growth of Enterococcus faecalis at a concentration of 810 μg ml−1 , while OPE/BiO NPs showed 71% inhibition to the Escherichia coli at a concentration of 243 μg ml−1 . The LPE/BiONF had 72% inhibition of S. enteritidis at MIC of 2.7 mg ml−1 . The antimicrobial activities of CPE/ BiONPs, LPE/BiONF and their NFCs could have a comparative advantage against commercial antibiotics and hence could be used in the control of waterborne pathogens.