PLA/AgNPs fiber aerogels and its investigation into their antibacterial properties

Worldwide water crisis is mainly caused by many factors including population explosion, environmental pollution etc. Effective approaches to solve water bacteria and microorganisms are in great demand. Here in this work, based on silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) as antibacterial agent and vinyl trimethoxysilane (VTMS) as crosslinking agent, polylactic acid (PLA) based aerogel material is designed. It owns a highly porous, interconnected network structure with irregularly shaped pores in fiber aerogels, which is attributed to the self-hydrolysis of VTMS chemical bonds (Si-O-Si) crosslinked. XRD result depicts the new diffraction peaks appear at 38.1°, 44.5°, 63.9°, and 77.1°, respectively, corresponding to the (111), (200), (220), and (311) crystal planes of Ag in PLA/AgNPs aerogels. Its maximum stress is achieved about 18 kPa at strain of 80 % and owns excellent cyclic compression rebound ability. Furthermore, PLA/AgNPs aerogel has excellent antibacterial effect. For 10 wt% AgNPs condition, the inhibition zones of S. aureus and E. coli reach 15.61 mm² and 13.85 mm² respectively. For purify bacteria in water, aerogel can effectively reduce E. coli populations by up to 6 log units (99.9 % reduction) and S. aureus populations by up to 4 log units (99.99 % reduction) after 24 h of exposure. This work emphasizes the transformative potential of PLA based aerogels in addressing critical environmental and industrial needs through the development of advanced, eco-friendly, and antimicrobial solutions.