AccScience Publishing / GHES / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/ghes.1251
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Antimicrobial silver-loaded starch-based bioplastic grafted with poly(4-vinylpyridine) as a novel eco-friendly material

Belén Gómez-Lázaro1† Felipe López-Saucedo1,2†* Guadalupe G. Flores-Rojas1,3 Alejandro Camacho-Cruz4 Leticia Buendía-González2 Eduardo Mendizabal3 Emilio Bucio1*
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1 Department of Radiation Chemistry and Radiochemistry, Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Autonomous University of Mexico, C.P., 04510 City, Mexico
2 Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Sciences, Autonomous University of the State of Mexico, C.P., 50200, State of Mexico, Mexico
3 Departments of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University Center of Exact Sciences and Engineering, University of Guadalajara, C.P., 44430, Jalisco, Mexico
4 Department of Biology, Faculty of Chemistry, National Autonomous University of Mexico, C.P., 04510 City, Mexico
Submitted: 5 July 2023 | Accepted: 23 August 2023 | Published: 22 September 2023
© 2023 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

The incorporation of polymer materials into disposable medical devices proves to be valuable due to their chemical and physical properties that make them practically unique. Approximately 25% of hospital waste consists of plastics, prompting various efforts to mitigate their environmental impact, such as reusing or reprocessing. In this study, we attained a hybrid material (organic-inorganic) with antibacterial properties through surface modification of a starch-based polymer matrix and subsequent silver immobilization. The raw material, which is a commercially available biodegradable product, was grafted at room temperature with the monomer 4-vinylpyridine through a “grafting-from” method initiated with high-energy gamma rays from a Co-60 source, using absorbed doses of 10 – 50 kGy and monomer concentrations of 10 – 100 vol%. Grafted films were loaded with silver at room temperature using natural radiation. Our results demonstrate that the modified materials exhibit antimicrobial activity against the pathogens Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, as confirmed through the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion assay.

Keywords
Antimicrobial materials
Bioplastics
Gamma-rays
Grafting
Poly(4-vinylpyridine)
Silver-immobilization
Starch
Funding
Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México
Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico (DGAPA), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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Global Health Economics and Sustainability, Electronic ISSN: 2972-4570 Published by AccScience Publishing