Temperature-controlled electrospinning of EVOH nanofibre mats encapsulated with Ag, CuO, and ZnO particles for skin wound dressing

To treat skin burns, a new wound dressing, nanofibre mats with metal or metal oxide nanoparticles (Ag, CuO, and ZnO), was fabricated using the electrospinning technique. During a therapeutic process, the antibacterial ability and bio-compatibility of a new dressing material are of major concern. To expound the characteristics of ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) nanofibre mats encapsulated with metal or metal oxide nanoparticles, denoted as Ag-EVOH, CuO-EVOH, and ZnO-EVOH, for use as new wound dressing materials, we investigated the suitable processing parameters to fabricate these materials, such as the voltage, tip-to-collector distance, concentration of the solution, and effect of environmental temperature. The antibacterial ability and bio-compatibility of Ag-EVOH, CuO-EVOH, and ZnO-EVOH were then tested and quantified. The outcomes show that the most suitable temperature for the fabrication of the materials is 40 °C (±3 °C). The antibacterial experiment results indicate that 0.08 g/ml of metal/metallic oxide shows the highest antibacterial ability toward Staphylococcus aureus. Furthermore, the largest diameters of the bacteriostatic loops of the three types of nanofibre mats, i.e. Ag-EVOH, CuO-EVOH, and ZnO-EVOH, are 5.89, 5.21, and 4.12 mm, respectively. Finally, the cell proliferations on the three nanofibre mats show a similar growth trend.