Antimicrobial application of nanofibrous mats self-assembled with quaternized chitosan and soy protein isolate

Positively charged N-[(2-hydroxy-3-trimethylammonium) propyl] chitosan chloride (HTCC) and negatively charged soy protein isolate (SPI) were alternately assembled on cellulose acetate (CA) electrospun nanofibrous mats via electrostatic layer-by-layer self-assembly technique. CA nanofibrous mats coated with bilayers of HTCC and SPI possessed more orderly-arranged structure than uncoated CA mats according to the observation from scanning electron microscopy images. The average diameter of the nanofibers was enlarged by the increase of the bilayer number. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicated that HTCC and SPI were coated on the surface of the CA mats successfully. The average diameters of inhibition zones of (HTCC/SPI)(10.5)-films-coated nanofibrous mats against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were 9.6 mm and 11.53 mm, respectively, which demonstrated the highest antimicrobial activity among samples in presented study. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.