A bioinspired and sustainable route for the preparation of Ag-crosslinked alginate fibers decorated with silver nanoparticles

Pietro Tordi; Rita Gelli; Francesca Ridi; Massimo Bonini

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.121586

A bioinspired and sustainable route for the preparation of Ag-crosslinked alginate fibers decorated with silver nanoparticles

Carbohydr Polym. 2024 Feb 15:326:121586. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.121586. Epub 2023 Nov 13.

Authors

Pietro Tordi¹, Rita Gelli², Francesca Ridi², Massimo Bonini³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry "Ugo Schiff" and CSGI, University of Florence, via della Lastruccia 3, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy; Institut de Science et d'Ingeniérie Supramoléculaires (ISIS) - Université de Strasbourg and CNRS, 8 Alleé Gaspard Monge, F-67000 Strasbourg, France.
² Department of Chemistry "Ugo Schiff" and CSGI, University of Florence, via della Lastruccia 3, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy.
³ Department of Chemistry "Ugo Schiff" and CSGI, University of Florence, via della Lastruccia 3, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy. Electronic address: massimo.bonini@unifi.it.

PMID: 38142067
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.121586

Abstract

Functional materials obtained through green and sustainable routes are attracting particular attention due to the need to reduce the environmental impact of the chemical industry. In this work we propose a bioinspired approach for the preparation of alginate fibers containing silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), to be used for antimicrobial purposes. We demonstrate that filiform polymeric structures with length of a few meters can be easily obtained by extruding an alginate solution in an aqueous Ag⁺-containing bath (i.e. wet spinning) and that treating the fibers with freshly-squeezed lemon juice leads to the formation of AgNPs homogeneously distributed within the polymeric network. Using mixtures of ascorbic and citric acid to mimic lemon juice composition we highlight the influence of the aforementioned molecules on the nanoparticles formation process as well as on the properties of the fibers. Varying the amount of citric and ascorbic acid used for the treatment allows to finely tune the thermal, morphological and water absorption properties of the fibers. This evidence, along with the possibility to easily monitor the preparation through FT-IR spectroscopy, endows the fibers with a high application potential in several fields such as wound healing, water/air purification and agriculture.

Keywords: Alginate; Ascorbic acid; Bioinspired; Citric acid; Fibers; Silver-NPs.