Green fabrication of antibacterial gelatin fiber for biomedical application

Silver nanoparticles have been widely used in the healthcare industry, food storage, and textile coatings due to their excellent antibacterial properties. However, to introduce silver nanoparticles into a fibrous material, post-treatment methods, including surface coating, have primarily been used. The surface coating method unexpectedly changes the fiber surface morphology and induces fast silver nanoparticle release. In this work, we fabricated antibacterial silver nanoparticle-incorporated gelatin fibers via ultraviolet-visible light (UV-vis) assisted silver nanoparticle synthesis and wet-spinning methods. Various amount of silver nanoparticle-incorporated gelatin fiber was successfully prepared using water and fructose as a green solvent and crosslinker. From the TEM image and DLS data, the concentration of silver precursor greatly affected the size of synthesized silver nanoparticles, which range from approximately 50 to 100 nm using UV light and gelatin as a catalyst and stabilizer. The increasing concentration of silver nanoparticles enhances the gelatin/silver nanoparticle solution viscosity and greatly affects the morphology of the wet-spun gelatin fiber. Sugar-mediated Maillard crosslinking reaction improved the water stability and gave sustained Ag+ release behavior. The silver nanoparticle-incorporated gelatin fibers have notable antibacterial activity against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. In general, appropriate silver nanoparticle content (50 ppm) loaded gelatin fibers are considered a potential candidate for biomedical applications due to their notable bactericidal activity.