Bioinspired antibacterial PVA/Melanin-TiO2 hybrid nanoparticles: the role of poly-vinyl-alcohol on their self-assembly and biocide activity

Hybrid Melanin-TiO2 nanoparticles are promising bioinspired antibacterial agents for biomedical coatings and food-packaging fields. However, due to a very low colloidal stability, they showed a high tendency to self-aggregate and rapidly precipitate, making not easy their use in aqueous medium to produce homogeneous antimicrobial coatings or nanocomposites. A valid strategy to improve their dispersion is the combination with a hydrophilic water-soluble polymer such as poly-vinyl-alcohol (PVA), which is a good choice to improve the colloidal stability of nanoparticles and to modulate their agglomeration. In this work, we propose an in-situ synthetic approach based on the hydrothermal route, by which the hybrid Melanin-TiO2 nanoparticles were prepared starting from the inorganic and organic precursors in the presence of PVA. Combined approach of TEM, XRD, TG/DSC, EPR and DLS techniques allows for assessing the PVA role in the formation of hybrids and on their morphological features as well as colloidal stability and aqueous dispersion. Antibacterial tests demonstrated the biocide activity of PVA/Melanin-TiO2 nanoparticles against Escherichia coli bacterial cultures, which resulted partially influenced by the PVA content. This study provides key information on the mutual influence of organic/inorganic components on the functional properties of the final hybrid nanocomposites, contributing to define a much more far-reaching implementation in the synthesis of bioinspired polymer-based nanocomposites.