Abstract:

Research in new antimicrobial materials is becoming more important to meet the increasing challenge of arising bacterial infections diseases in the world. Poly (methyl mecthacrylate-co-methacryllic acid) (PCMAA-co-MAA) with different monomer ratio synthesized by emulsion polymerization were electrospun into nanofibers, the carboxyl groups of which was used to adsorb cationic photosensitizers to fabricate photodynamic antimicrobial nanofibrous membrane. Scanning electron microscope and differential scanning calorimeter were utilized to analyze the surface morphology of the P(MMA-co-MAA) nanofibrous membrane as well as its thermal properties. And finally the antimicrobial behavior of the as-prepared material was evaluated. The results indicated that the fiber diameter increased with the increase of relative molecular weight, and the uniformity decreased with the increase of polydispersity index. The glass transition temperature, adsorption capacity of the photosensitizer and antibacterial effect were improved with the increase of MAA. Furthermore, the photodynamic antimicrobial nanofibrous membrane showed good antibacterial effects on the S. aureus and E. coli. The sterilization rate can reach 99%.

Key words: poly (methyl mecthacrylate-co-methacryllic acid), monomer ratio, emulsion polymerization, electrostatic spinning,  photodynamic antimicrobial