writer：Hengchong Shi, Haiyu Liu, Shifang Luan*, Dean Shi*, Shunjie Yan, Robert K Y Li, Jinghua Yin*
keywords：TPU electrospun nanofibers, ultrasonication, CNT, nanocomposite, wound dressing
source：期刊
specific source：RSC Advances
Issue time：2016年
The discovery of antibacterial functions for carbon nanotube (CNT) has triggered great interest of people, because of excellent antibacterial property of CNT. However, there are two obstacles, i.e., cell toxicity and CNT’s aggregation in polymer matrix, which would greatly limit the antibacterial application of CNT in medical device. In this article, a facile, cost-effective, time-saving and environmentally friendly approach was proposed to impart antibacterial property to thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) electrospun nanofibers with CNT. i) ultrasonication technique was explored to in-situ anchor the CNT onto the TPU electrospun nanofibers to achieve the bactericidal property. It could effectively circumvent the aggregation of CNT when TPU/CNT electrospun nanofibers were prepared. In addition, the anchor preparation was efficient with only for 10 min and non-toxic, green solvent-ethanol was used as dispersed solvent; ii) PEG was chemically grafted onto the TPU (TPU-g-PEG) electrospun nanofibers through UV photo-graft polymerization. Although CNT exhibited good bactericidal property, it could be toxic to human cell. Incorporation of PEG could not only effectively reduce the toxicity of CNT to the human cell but also decrease the attachment of bacteria. The TPU-g-PEG/CNT nanofibers exhibited excellent hemocompatibility, including suppression of red blood cells adhesion, and the lower hemolysis ratios. Importantly, the as-prepared nanofibers performed better antibacterial properties, due to the bacterial resistance of the grafted PEG and the bactericidal effect of CNT. Our facile approach has significant potential for the infection-resistant wound dressing.