The Preparation, Characterization, Mechanical and Antibacterial Properties of GO-ZnO Nanocomposites with a Poly(l-lactide)-Modified Surface

Mingwei Yuan; Chengdong Xiong; Lin Jiang; Hongli Li; Minglong Yuan

doi:10.3390/ma11020323

The Preparation, Characterization, Mechanical and Antibacterial Properties of GO-ZnO Nanocomposites with a Poly(l-lactide)-Modified Surface

Materials (Basel). 2018 Feb 23;11(2):323. doi: 10.3390/ma11020323.

Authors

Mingwei Yuan^{1

2}, Chengdong Xiong³, Lin Jiang⁴, Hongli Li⁵, Minglong Yuan⁶

Affiliations

¹ Engineering Research Center of Biopolymer Functional Materials of Yunnan, Yunnan Minzu University, Kunming 650500, China. yuanmingwei@163.com.
² Chengdu Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China. yuanmingwei@163.com.
³ Chengdu Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China. xiongcdcioc@163.com.
⁴ Engineering Research Center of Biopolymer Functional Materials of Yunnan, Yunnan Minzu University, Kunming 650500, China. jianglin_1981@163.com.
⁵ Engineering Research Center of Biopolymer Functional Materials of Yunnan, Yunnan Minzu University, Kunming 650500, China. honglili1982@163.com.
⁶ Engineering Research Center of Biopolymer Functional Materials of Yunnan, Yunnan Minzu University, Kunming 650500, China. yml@ynni.edu.cn.

Abstract

Graphene oxide (GO) was employed for the preparation of GO-zinc oxide (ZnO). The hydroxyl group on the surface was exploited to trigger the l-lactide ring-opening polymerization. A composite material with poly(l-lactide) (PLLA) chains grafted to the GO-ZnO surface, GO-ZnO-PLLA, was prepared. The results demonstrated that the employed method allowed one-step, rapid grafting of PLLA to the GO-ZnO surface. The chemical structure of the GO surface was altered by improved dispersion of GO-ZnO in organic solvents, thus enhancing the GO-ZnO dispersion in the PLLA matrix and the interface bonding with PLLA. Subsequently, composite films, GO-ZnO-PLLA and GO-ZnO-PLLA/PLLA, were prepared. The changes in interface properties and mechanical properties were studied. Furthermore, the antibacterial performance of nano-ZnO was investigated.

Keywords: GO-ZnO-PLLA; antibacterial performance; composite materials; mechanical properties; nano-ZnO.