Eugenol micro-emulsion reinforced with silver nanocomposite electrospun mats for wound dressing strategies

Abstract

Wound management is a complex process that involves the application of tissue scaffolds/nanocomposites for wound healing treatment. An ideal wound dressing possesses excellent mechanical properties, good biocompatibility and effective antibacterial activity. The present study optimized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using a eugenol microemulsion (EuME) incorporated with polyvinyl alcohol (synthetic polymer) to fabricate efficacious nanofibers via an electrospinning technique by optimizing polymer concentration, applied voltage, needle tip–collector distance and flow rate adjusted to 9%, 25 kV, 15 cm and 0.5 ml h⁻¹ respectively. The results of SEM showed a homogeneous distribution of well-oriented electrospun nanofibers (ESNs) with a uniform pore diameter of 404.1 nm and elemental silver composition of 13.93%. The hydrogen bonding and physical interaction between the nanofibers were observed by FTIR. The thermal stability and specific functionality of nanofibers were investigated by TGA/DTA analysis. The synthesized eugenol microemulsion-silver nanoparticle nanofibers (EuME–AgNP–NFs) were compared with silver bandaid-suspended nanoparticle nanofibers (SBD–AgNP–NFs) to monitor the efficiency and toxicity in the biological system. The eugenol microemulsion-silver nanoparticles (EuME–AgNPs) exhibited the highest antibacterial efficacy against Staphylococcus aureus. The silver release behaviour of EuME–AgNP–NFs showed sustained and controlled release of silver ions in the simulated wound fluid system. The interaction of EuME–AgNPs with lymphocytes and erythrocytes revealed the maximum rate of cell viability (69.81%) and minimum rate of red blood cell breakdown (19.44%) in the human biological system when compared with silver bandaid–silver nanoparticles (SBD–AgNPs). The fabricated EuME–AgNPs–NFs with effective antibacterial activity and sustained release of silver ions provide a suitable environment for wound healing and could be used for cut wounds in clinical practice.