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In the present study, wound healing ferroelectric membranes doped with zinc oxide nanoparticles were fabricated from vinylidene fluoride-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer and polyvinylpyrrolidone using the electrospinning technique. Five different ratios of vinylidene fluoride-tetrafluoroethylene to polyvinylpyrrolidone were used to control the properties of the membranes at a constant zinc oxide nanoparticle content. It was found that an increase of polyvinylpyrrolidone content leads to a decrease of the spinning solution conductivity and viscosity, causing a decrease of the average fiber diameter and reducing their strength and elongation. By means of X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy, it was revealed that increased polyvinylpyrrolidone content leads to difficulty in crystallization of the vinylidene fluoride-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer in the ferroelectric β-phase in membranes. Changing the ratio of vinylidene fluoride-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer and polyvinylpyrrolidone with a constant content of zinc oxide nanoparticles is an effective approach to control the antibacterial properties of membranes towards Staphylococcus aureus . After carrying out in vivo experiments, we found that ferroelectric hybrid membranes, containing from five to ten mass percent of PVP, have the greatest wound-healing effect for the healing of purulent wounds.

Wound healing is a complex process and an ongoing challenge for modern medicine. Herein, we present the results of study of structure and properties of ferroelectric composite polymer membranes for wound healing. Membranes were fabricated by electrospinning from a solution of vinylidene fluoride/tetrafluoroethylene copolymer (VDF-TeFE) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) in dimethylformamide (DMF). The effects of the PVP content on the viscosity and conductivity of the spinning solution, DMF concentration, chemical composition, crystal structure, and conformation of VDF-TeFE macromolecules in the fabricated materials were studied. It was found that as PVP amount increased, the viscosity and conductivity of the spinning solutions decreased, resulting in thinner fibers. Using FTIR and XRD methods, it was shown that if the PVP content was lower than 50 wt %, the VDF-TeFE copolymer adopted a flat zigzag conformation (TTT conformation) and crystalline phases with ferroelectric properties were formed. Gas chromatography results indicated that an increase in the PVP concentration led to a higher residual amount of DMF in the material, causing cytotoxic effects on 3T3L1 fibroblasts. In vivo studies demonstrated that compared to classical gauze dressings impregnated with a solution of an antibacterial agent, ferroelectric composite membranes with 15 wt % PVP provided better conditions for the healing of purulent wounds.

These days, composite materials based on polymers and inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) are widely used in optoelectronics and biomedicine. In this work, composite membranes of polylactic acid and ZnO NPs containing 5-40 wt.% of the latter NPs were produced by means of electrospinning. For the first time, polymer material loaded with up to 40 wt.% of ZnO NPs (produced via laser ablation in air and having non-modified surface) was used to prepare fiber-based composite membranes. The morphology, phase composition, mechanical, spectral and antibacterial properties of the membranes were tested by a set of analytical techniques including SEM, XRD, FTIR, UV-vis, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Antibacterial activity of the materials was evaluated following standard procedures (ISO 20743:2013) and using S. aureus and E. coli bacteria. It is shown that incorporation of 5-10 wt.% of NPs led to improved mechanical properties of the composite membranes, while further increase of ZnO content up to 20 wt.% and above resulted in their noticeable deterioration. At the same time, the antibacterial properties of ZnO-rich membranes were more pronounced, which is explained by a larger number of surface-exposed ZnO NPs, in addition to those embedded into the bulk of fiber material.