Spectroscopic Characterization of Copper-Chitosan Nanoantimicrobials Prepared by Laser Ablation Synthesis in Aqueous Solutions.
Copper-chitosan (Cu-CS) nanoantimicrobials are a novel class of bioactive agents, providing enhanced and synergistic efficiency in the prevention of biocontamination in several application fields, from food packaging to biomedical. Femtosecond laser pulses were here exploited to disrupt a Cu solid target immersed into aqueous acidic solutions containing different CS concentrations. After preparation, Cu-CS colloids were obtained by tuning both Cu/CS molar ratios and laser operating conditions. As prepared Cu-CS colloids were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), to study copper complexation with the biopolymer. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to elucidate the nanomaterials' surface chemical composition and chemical speciation of the most representative elements. Transmission electron microscopy was used to characterize nanocolloids morphology. For all samples, ξ-potential measurements showed highly positive potentials, which could be correlated with the XPS information. The spectroscopic and morphological characterization herein presented outlines the characteristics of a technologically-relevant nanomaterial and provides evidence about the optimal synthesis parameters to produce almost monodisperse and properly-capped Cu nanophases, which combine in the same core-shell structure two renowned antibacterial agents.
IFN-CNR, Physics Department "M. Merlin", Bari 70126, Italy. maria.sportelli@uniba.it.|Chemistry Department, Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", Bari 70126, Italy. maria.sportelli@uniba.it.
Maria Chiara
MC
Sportelli
IFN-CNR, Physics Department "M. Merlin", Bari 70126, Italy. annalisa.volpe@uniba.it.|Physics Department, Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", Bari 70126, Italy. annalisa.volpe@uniba.it.
Annalisa
A
Volpe
Chemistry Department, Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", Bari 70126, Italy. rosaria.picca@uniba.it.
Rosaria Anna
RA
Picca
Department of Pharmacy-Drug Sciences, Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", Bari 70126, Italy. adriana.trapani@uniba.it.
Adriana
A
Trapani
Department of Pharmacy-Drug Sciences, Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", Bari 70126, Italy. claudio.palazzo@uniba.it.
Claudio
C
Palazzo
IFN-CNR, Physics Department "M. Merlin", Bari 70126, Italy. antonio.ancona@uniba.it.
Antonio
A
Ancona
IFN-CNR, Physics Department "M. Merlin", Bari 70126, Italy. pietromario.lugara@uniba.it.|Physics Department, Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", Bari 70126, Italy. pietromario.lugara@uniba.it.
Pietro Mario
PM
Lugarà
Department of Pharmacy-Drug Sciences, Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", Bari 70126, Italy. giuseppe.trapani@uniba.it.
Giuseppe
G
Trapani
Chemistry Department, Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", Bari 70126, Italy. nicola.cioffi@uniba.it.
Nicola
N
Cioffi
FTIR; X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; chitosan; copper nanoparticles; laser ablation