A promising antimicrobial bionanocomposite based poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) reinforced silver doped zinc oxide nanoparticles

A bionanocomposite based on biosynthesized poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) and reinforced with silver@zinc oxide (Ag–ZnO) was synthesized in variable loadings of Ag–ZnO using the in-situ casting dissolution technique. The degradable biopolymer PHBV had been biosynthesized from date waste as a renewable carbon source. The fabricated products were investigated as promising antibacterial materials. The Ag–ZnO nanoparticles were also synthesized using the green method in the presence of Gum Arabic. The Ag–ZnO nanoparticles were loaded within the PHBV biopolymer backbone at concentration of 1%, 3%, 5% and 10%, PHBV/Ag–ZnO((1,3,5,10%)). The chemical structure, morphology, physical and thermal properties of the PHBV/Ag–ZnO bionanocomposites were assessed via common characterization tools of FTIR, TGA, XRD, SEM and EDX. One step of the degradation process was observed in the range of 200–220 °C for all the obtained materials. The onset degradation temperature of the bionanocomposites have been noticeably increased with increasing the nanofiller loading percentage. In addition, fabricated products were investigated for their interesting antibacterial performance. A detailed biological screening for the obtained products was confirmed against some selected Gram-positive and Gram-negative strains S. aureus and E. coli, respectively. Overall, the bionanocomposite PHBV/Ag–ZnO((10%)) was the most potent against both types of the selected bacteria. The order of bacterial growth inhibition on the surface of the fabricated bionanocomposites was detected as follows: PHBV/Ag–ZnO((10%)) > PHBV/Ag–ZnO((5%)) > PHBV/Ag–ZnO((3%)) > PHBV/Ag–ZnO((1%)).