High-efficiency antibacterial and barrier properties of natural rubber/graphene oxide@Ag/carboxymethyl chitosan composites

ABSTRACT

Natural rubber (NR) latex gloves serve as a very important barrier protection for health care workers. It is of great significance to study the barrier and antibacterial properties of NR latex products. Herein, a small amount of graphene oxide (GO) with in situ grown silver (Ag) nanoparticles was self-assembled in the NR latex by carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS) as a cross-linking agent to form a novel NR/GO-Ag-CMCS composite with three-dimensional filler networks. The filler networks in the NR/GO-Ag-CMCS composite were formed by a strong interfacial interaction between NR macromolecules and GO-Ag-CMCS hybrids. The tensile strength and tear strength of NR/GO-Ag-CMCS composite were higher than those of pure NR film. With the increase of GO content, the filler network of NR/GO-Ag-CMCS film tended to be more complete and its barrier was stronger. Moreover, the NR/GO-Ag-CMCS composite showed excellent antibacterial performance against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). The minimal inhibitory concentration values of GO-Ag-CMCS hybrid to E. coli and S. aureus were 8 and 16 μg/mL, respectively. For the NR/GO-Ag-CMCS composite with 0.1 phr GO, the diameters of its inhibition zone were 15.6 mm for E. coli and 13.6 mm for S. aureus.

Graphical Abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Natural rubber
• graphene oxide
• carboxymethyl chitosan
• barrier
• antibacterial

Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate the financial support from the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFE0126800) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51790504).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/25740881.2022.2113891

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [51790504]; National Key Research and Development Program of China [2017YFE0126800].

Notes on contributors

Yuxian Su

Yuxian Su is a Ph.D. student at Beijing University of Chemical Technology. Her research interests include rubber composite preparation and processing, nanocomposite synthesis and biological application.

Teng Li

Ms. Teng Li graduated from Beijing University of Chemical Technology with a master's degree. Her research interests include rubber composite preparation and processing, nanocomposite synthesis and biological application.

Yingyan Mao

Dr. Yingyan Mao is a researcher of Beijing Institute of Ophthalmology, Beijing Tongren Eye Center, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, China. Her expertise is in the synthesis, modification and characterization of nanomaterials, and application of nanomaterails and nanomaterials based composites in ophthalmological treatment.

Li Liu

Dr. Li Liu is a professor in Beijing University of Chemical Technology, China. His research interests include polymer material modification and processing technology, polymer-based conductive and thermal conductive functional materials, novel rare earth functional materials, advanced carbon/polymer high-performance composites, etc.

Shipeng Wen

Dr. Shipeng Wen is a professor in Beijing University of Chemical Technology, China. His research interests include design and preparation of high-performance elastomer composites, fatigue mechanism and life prediction of rubber composites, and functional elastomers.