Trapping bacteria in biodegradable electrospun mat

CLARA DUCA; ROBERTO CANDAL; MARIA LAURA PONCE; LUCAS GUZ; SILVIA GOYANES

Conferencia; Nano 2017; 2017

Abstract: A new hybrid material that combines the mechanical andstructural properties of polymer nanofibers with the functional groupspresented in bacteria membranes or in the extracellular polymericsubstances excreted by microorganisms was developed. This hybrid consistsof electrospun nanofibers of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) crosslinked withcitric acid and viable bacteria located in its interior. The bacteriawere found to be not inside the fibers but inside the network holes.This hybrid material, which is insoluble in water, was able to preservebacteria alive even after been preserved at -20 °C for five days. Thepresent development could be used, for example, as a bioreactor, inmedical applications, or as a filtering membrane for water treatment. Todemonstrate its applicability as a filter, the hybrid new material wassuccessfully used to remove copper from the water without releasingbacteria into the aqueous media. The present hybrid, thus, opens the doorto materials in which different types of bacteria could be combined withan electrospun polymer mat.