CONCLUSIONS
In this work, the potential improvement in the mechanical and antibacterial properties of CG nanofiber membranes with the incorporation of GO-Ag composite fillers was thoroughly exploited. First of all, the successful synthesis of GO-Ag by in situ reduction of Ag1 on the surface of GO sheets was confirmed by TEM, UV–vis, XRD, EDS, and FTIR analysis. The incorporation of GO-Ag nanocomposites can synergistically enhance both mechanical and antibacterial properties of CG composites matrix. The introduction of GO-Ag induces 105% enhancement of the elastic modulus and 488% augment of tensile strength on CG nanofiber membranes. The synergistically enhancement in the mechanical properties on of GO-Ag/CG are partially resulted from the alleviated restacking of graphene sheets by the anchored AgNPs, which is supported by TEM and DSC results. Meanwhile, owing to excellent antibacterial ability of GO-Ag, the diameters of inhibition zone of GO-Ag/CG nanofiber membranes against E. coli and S. aureus are enlarged by 80.5% and 50.1% on top of that of CG, respectively. The synergistical improvement on antibacterial ability of GO-Ag/CG may involve the accumulation of microorganisms to the vicinity of AgNPs by GO. The incorporation of GO-Ag possesses great potential for simultaneously improving mechanical and antibacterial performance of PEC nanofibers in biomedical applications.
